Thats how it is.

Books & Authors- Part-2

2010-05-17T23:04:00.000-07:00

A software engineer back from US to Bangalore opened a library at Koramangla called "Easy Library" and I became a member seeing the fantastic collection. She was a very well read lady really passionate about books. She introduced me to many authors , including Lee Child. Lee Child has a very unique style of writing, a very different narration altogether, always in first person.The hero is Jack Reacher, Ex-Army guy,retired and unemployed, he has no home, no base, no luggage, and no destination in particular. He is just wandering around empty handed with just a toothbrush in his pocket.He gets sucked into all kinds of problems and copes with them admirably.Each and every book of Lee Child is a best seller; Echo Burning, Without fail,Persuader The Enemy,Tripwire, The Visitor,One Shot,et all. Gone Tomorrow is his latest which I just finished today. Lee Child not only writes well with subtle humour, but also researches well and brings out many kinds of useful information. I never realised that US currency has same size of currency Notes whether it is $1, or $100, in one of the books, the villain is busy converting $1 Bills into $100 which is relatively easy because the most important thing is the paper, which is genuine! fantastic idea.

Some of my reviews of books are;http://tinyurl.com/22lo32z

Neil Donald Walsh's 3 part series, " Conversations with God" which became a best seller was very interesting. Please read the complete review at:http://tinyurl.com/2b3t4rs.

Another very interesting writer I discovered in Vince Flynn who writes exciting,political thrillers on topics of current interests; His books ; Protect & Defend, Term Limits, I found very interesting. Read a review of mine at:http://tinyurl.com/22ngde2 .

Humphrey Hawksley, a journalist has written a very interesting book depicting a horrifying spectre of nuclear war between India & Pakistan that develops into a mini World War. The book partly seems to have inspired the Episode-8/S-8 of BBC Series, " Spooks". Read my review of the book;http://tinyurl.com/37q4xhf

David Baldacci, I thought could well occupy the void caused by the death of Robert Ludlum. Some of his initial books were well written,taut thrillers, a-la Ludlum, but he has not been able maintain the quality consistently.http://tinyurl.com/2bx7cau

Tom Clancy:Another brilliant writer and a researcher, comes out with such fantastic books.Clancy is a consultant to NSA & Pentagon on strategic affairs, and has an amazing analytical mind. His creation, Jack Ryan, an ex-Navy Officer, who starts as a CIA Analyst and ends up becoming NSA, VP and then becomes President of US, is a loveable character and is personified by Harrison Ford in the Tom Clancy books made into films such as Red October, Clear & Present Danger, Patriot Games etc. Tom Clancy has created a huge number of video games all of which are based on commando/military /spy operations.
Read one of my book reviews of Tom Clancy Thriller:http://tinyurl.com/339adt5

Leon Uris, writer of super best sellers like Topaz, MILA-18, QB-7, Armageddon,a scholar and a good researcher who in his over 35 years career written ony a dozen books. His book Topaz, based on a true story, got made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcok, which was the only non-murder mystery by the master. Read my review of the book at :http://tinyurl.com/29agx9q

John Le Carre is another favorite author of mine. Splendid writer, his writing syle is like Japanese Sushi, very difficult to like in first tasting, takes lot of time to develop taste for, and once you have done it, you can't like anything else.I first read his book, " The spy who came in from the cold" after reading fantastic rave reviews in Time and other International Publications. I just could not progress beyond first few pages. It took more more than 3 months and over 20 tries to complete the book, I did not understand a word! I read it 3 more times, and then it hit me!!!.
Then, there was no looking back. Since then I have read all of his books, and enoyed the George Smiley series a lot, especially: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy & Smiley's people, Little Drummer Girl, Our Game. After the end of USSR and Cold War, everyone wrote an obituary of Le Carre since he has nothing to write any more! But he has survived, and still writes good books.

Some of my Le Carre book reviews can be read at:http://tinyurl.com/2wwxybq, Constant Gardener.
and :
http://tinyurl.com/24oco6x Our Game , and :http://tinyurl.com/356meou - Little drummer Girl, and : http://tinyurl.com/28ryuqa- Smiley's people,http://tinyurl.com/27w28lx - Tinker Tailor.

Next part of the blog will have more books and more authors.

Books & Authors-1

2010-05-15T02:09:00.001-07:00

I got into the habits of reading books through the usual route of reading suspense thrillers in Hindi. The Novels of Ved Prakash Kamboj and many other Meerut based authors known as "Jasoosi"books. Vijay Series, Vinod Series, Col.Hamidmetc. were the heroes, and this was my teenage obsession.

Then shifted over to English thrillers; James Bond series by Ian Fleming, Nick Carter, Micky Spillane et all before I discovered Perry Mason series by Earle Stanley Gardener.
The court room dramas & investigative efforts of Perry Mason, the lawyer, with a small cast of Paul Drake, Della Street, Lt.Craig,Sgt.Holcombe was a fantastic world. I learnt a great deal about American legal system, even though I hardly knew anything else about US.

Next was James Hadley Chase. I finished the entire series of over 100 books over a period.All of them interesting,racy,crime thrillers. One book which I enjoyed the most was the only comic wrtten by Chase, " Miss.Shumway waves a wand", it was fantastic.I finished college and got into a job.

Nagarajan, a colleague lead me to Alistair Maclean came next, and I became his fan reading all his books including Guns of Navrone,Where Eagles Dare, HMS Ullyses, Night without end, South by Javahead,Ice Station Zebra,Satan Bug,For whom the Bells toll, and saw all those movies too. His later books, from Circus onwards were a big disappointment.He was the master of the arctic. The way he described,cold,freezing,arctic regions, I would feel cold even in hot summers of Delhi!
Then I discovered Helen MacInnes, and I still like her books, and read them again and again. Spy thrillers, but no James Bond type super heroes. Her hero would have only 2 qualifications; one ,he is intelleigent & resourceful, second he is a patriot. That's all. Her description of landscape was so perfect that I can still visualise the locales.Venetian Affair, Message from Malaga, Assignment in Britanny, Salzburg Connection are some of books that I remember.For a book review visit:http://tinyurl.com/2dtm6q6

I was lead to read Irving Wallace & Arthur Hailey. Wallace's, The Man, The Prize, The Word, Seven Minutes,were fantastic books, From R-document onwards, his decline started. Hailey wrote super books, Airport, Final Diagnosis, Moneychangers, Wheels,every book used to be a treatise on a particular industry viz: Aviation, Banking, Healthcare,Automobiles etc. He too went down the hill, and is hardly visible now.Frederick Forsythe who came on scene with the Day of the Jackal, and Dogs of War.He went on improving with every new book, and his latest, "The Afghan" is also very good.

One of newly acquired friends, Virinder Sahi introduced me to Ayn Rand. Oh man, that was a fantastic milestone of my life. I finished reading , " Atlas shrugged" and "Fountainhead" one after another, day and night, and took over a fortnight to recover and come back to normalcy. I was in a daze!. I have built a collection, and go back to Ayn Rand time and again. This is one author aboput whom I cannot talk, you have to experience it.

My Marketing & Sales Job entailed lot of travelling, and with each journey , I will acquire new books at airports. The bookshop guys became good friends. There is this Sindhi guy at Bombay airport ( Now he is downstairs near IA departure gate) who was an avid reader and would suggest good books. He introduced me to 3 authors, quite early in their debut years, who ruled the roost for many many years. These were: John Grisham, Tom Clancy & Michael Crichton. I have read anything & everything written by these 3 superstars.Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan & Rainbow Six series are excellent. I didn't much like the Op-Centre series.

Robert Ludlum wrote some excellent books,Matarese Circle,Aquitaine Progression, Parsifal Mosaic & Bourne Series, the first 3 were excellent. As a reviewer and a critic, I have found Ludlum taxing the gullibility of his readers with his bizarre, outrageous plots, implausible storylines, and his constant fixation on ’’conspiracy by a super-secret, ultra powerful, underground organisation’’ which has been repeated so many times that it has become a bore. Nevertheless, as a reader, Ludlum has never ceased to fascinate me with complex plots, twists and turns, fast paced action, violence, heroics, nerve wrecking drama,intrigue,nail biting suspense, and his ability to keep the adrenaline pumping, readers on tenterhooks, making his books ’’unputdownable’’
He started declining from Hades Factor onwards.His death made him a hero and even after so many years of his demise, his books hit the streets , Ghost written by his ex-partner Eric Van Lustbader...he is nowhere near Ludlum.

Some of my book reviews on Ludlum's books are: Cassandra Compact--:http://tinyurl.com/3al5vke, Prometheus :http://tinyurl.com/25ffntf

This series of blogs will continue.

What's in a name?

2010-04-29T04:09:00.000-07:00

Recently, when watching a re-run of an old cricket match featuring great innings of Sachin Tendular, we could see his home-crowd in Bombay-nee-Mumbai waving placards naming him as “Tendlya”. My daughter asked me what does that mean? Then I realized that brought as she is in posh south Delhi kind of a lifestyle, she is not perhaps aware of our distinctive culture of shortening/spoiling the names into ridiculous forms, and that too out of love!

Down south, especially in Northern Karnataka and southern parts of Maharashtra, the region earlier part of Bombay province, there is this tradition of spoiling the names beyond recognition, especially developed amongst the Brahmin community: Raghavendra becomes-Raghya, Krishna is Kittya,Sreenivas is Sheenya,Vasudev /Vasanth becomes Vasya/Vasu, Venkateswara/Venkatrama becomes Venkya, and so on. This practice is not restricted to male names only, in females :Tungabhadra becomes Tungi, Mandakini becomes Mandi, Parimala becomes Pammi, Shakuntala becomes Shaku, Vijayalakshmi becomes Viji, Nirmala becomes Nimmi.

When I shifted from south to North , to Delhi, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the tradition continues here too, especially amongst the Punjabi community where Satish becomes-Teeshe, Mahesh/Ramesh is Meshi, Anurag is Ragi,Sukhvinder is Sukhi, Jagadev/Jagannth is Jaggu, Santosh is Toshi, Parminder is Pammi, and so on.
Then someone pointed out that this is a global phenomenon! Even in US, Richard is Dick, Jonathan is John, William is Bill, Jacqueline is Jackie, Rosalyn is Rosie, James is Jim etc.
But Punjabi system of strangely meaningless nicknames like Guddu, Pinki, Pappi, Bebo,Lolo,Dabbu,Chintu,Chimpu,Gorkhi,Guddi,Babli, etc. is matchless.

Rafi

2010-04-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

To the myriad fans of Rafi , there are thousands of Rafi’s songs to
cherish, almost all of them have three lists. List A is the general, popular, most well known songs which will be in everyone’s list. List B is relatively lesser known songs, and List C is a special compilation. My review lists type B songs which are fantastic, but are relatively less well known. I hope those of readers who haven’t heard these songs, will listen to them and add to their collection.

1. Jaag dile deewana: A beautiful Chitragupta composition from ’’Oonche Log’’, Rafi uses a special tonal variation for the song.
2. Ankhian sang ankhian lage aaj: A beautiful classical song in raag ’’malkaus’’ from Bade Bhai composed by Chitragupta. This song is a challenge to any aspiring singer, or a Rafi clone.
3. Dil ki tamanna thee masti mein: A nice melodious song from 11000 ladkian, best composition of N Dutta.
4. Nache man mora magan: A classical dance number by S D Burman from ’’meri soorat teri aankhen’’, superb alaap of Rafi with excellent tabla beat by the mastero Pt.Shamta Prasad.
5. Jara sun haseena ye naazneen: A melodious romantic song from ’’ Kaun apna kaun paraya’’ composed by Ravi.
6. Baazi kisi ne pyaar ki jeeti ya haar di: A pensive sad song from Nazraana, composed by Ravi. The only Rafi song in the movie dominated by Mukesh songs, managed to steal the show.
7. Itnee haseen itni jawan raat kya karein: Ravi composition from ’’Aaj aur kal’’
8. Husn wale tera jawab nahin: Another Ravi masterpiece from Gharan with some excellent poetry.
9. Jane Bahar husn tera: A classical based number in raag malkaus from’’ Pyar kiya to darna kya’’. Ravi again.
10. Main nigahen ter chehre se: A Madan Mohan composition from Aapki parchhain.
11. Tum jo mil gaye ho: Madan Mohan using Rafi’s histrionics to the hilt.
12. Ek haseen sham ko dil mera kho gaya: Another MM composition, so smooth and so free flowing like vintage wine!
13. Chhal kaye jaam: LP composition from ’’ Mere humdum mere dost’’
14. Raaz-e-dil unse chhupaya na gaya: a Ravi composition from a flop movie called Apna Banake Dekho.
15. Khuli palak mein jhoota gussa: Typical Shammi Kapoor song from Professor.
16. Do sitar on ka milan: A duet with Lata from Kohinoor, a Naushad composition. Rafi never sounded so sweet!
17. Koi Sone ke dilwala: A peppy song composed by Salil Chaudhri for Maya.
18. Tum bin jaoon kahan: Though Kishor Kumar version is more popular, I like the Rafi version for the shear verve and energy of the song.
19. Phir woh bhooli se yaad ayi hai: Sapan Jagmophan com[position from Begaana.
20. Tauba yeh nigahen: I have intentionally not included any fast numbers, but this one by LP from Dillagi is so unique that you better hear it.

I would love to hear the comments of music lovers on this post

Ravi- The composer who has been forgotten

2010-04-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone seems to have forgotten yesteryears' Super hit music director Ravi who has bequeathed a great number of great songs which are incomparable, unforgettable and are just inimitable super hits, a pleasure to listen to, even today. Though everyone remembers the songs, but Ravi has somehow been forgotten. Even Sonu Nigam’s TVS Saregama talent contest which brought on stage many great music personalities of yesteryears once again in limelight and paid rich tributes, gave a pass by to Ravi. He is rarely seen, rarely heard of, and rarely ever written about. I feel very sad about it, hence this review to remind the readers of a great composer. To take you down the memory lane: Ravi made his debut with a Devendra Goel’s Vachan which also saw the debut of Rajendra Kumar. Ravi maintained his relationships and did many movies for Devendra Goel and also for Rajendra Kumar, the Jubilee Kumar.Some of his great movies & songs are: 1. Chaudhveen ka chand: Everyone remembers the exquisite title song soulfully rendered by Rafi in Raga- Bhopali. In addition there were other hits like Yeh Lucknow ki sargam, Mili khak mein mohobbat. 2. Gumraah: The famous “ Chalo ek baar phir se , ajnabi ban jayen hum dono” which fetched a film fare award to Mahendra Kapoor. There were other beautiful songs in the movie including: In hawawon mein, Aa bhi jaa, App aaaye to khayal-e-dile-nashad aaya. 3. Nazrana: The famous Rafi song in a RajKapoor movie! “ Baazi kisine pyaar ki, jeeti ya haar dee”, and Mukesh’s pathos filled “ Ik who bhi diwali thi, ik yeh bhi diwali hai” which brings tears to eyes. 4. . Do Badan : A series of superhit songs , “ Naseeb mein jiske jo likha tha”, “ Rahe gardishon me hardam”, “ Lo aa gayi, teri yaad , tum nahin aaye”. 5. Kaajal: Effervescent “Chhoo lene do najuk hoton ko”, “ Yeh julf agar khulke”, “ Tora Man darpan kehlaye” 6. Khaandan: “ Tumhi mere mandir” , Badi der bhayee nand lala. 7. Gharana: “ Husn wale tera jawab nahin. 8. Grihasti: Jeevan jyot jale 9. Bharosa: Is bhari duniya mein koi bhi hamara na hua. 10. Kaun apna kaun paraya: Jara sun haseen na-ye naazneen, 11. Humraaz: another BR Chopra movie featuring hit songs of Ravi, once again by Mahendra Kapoor… “Ae Neele gagan ke tale” and, “Kisi pathar ki moorat se”, These are some of the songs that readily come to mind. There have been many many more. The last remembered film of Ravi,Insaf ka Tarazu was another BR Chopra hit, in which the Pakistani singer Salma rendered a few old type songs like Dil ke armaan ansuome beh gaye etc.. The movie also featured Ghulam Ali’s Chupke chupke raat bhar. I think this was the last movie that Ravi did and after that where did he vanish? I remember Ravi and miss him.So far in my life, I met only one person from Bhilwara who said his favorite MD is Ravi! Despite his songs being superhits, Ravi never had a fan following, I dont know why.

His other good mvies are; China Town, Pyar kiya do darna kya, DusLakh,Aadmi aur Insan.

Of late, very recently, Ravi surfaced from his exile,appeared in the Total Recall show on TimesNow, and created a controversy saying the famous "Been" sound in Nagin was created by him and not by Kalyanji as we had known all these years.I don't know why he kept quite so many years, and is now coming up with this after Kalyanji's demise.Even Hemantda never denied it. It was surprise knowing that Ravi was an assistant to Hemant Kumar.

OPNayyar- a legend

2010-04-22T23:32:00.000-07:00

I have been a great fan of OP Nayyar, Listing selected songs of OPN is indeed a difficult task, hence I have chosen following songs which are absolute originals, unique in their style, format, tune and orchestration. These songs are totally different from the standard style of MDs of yesterday and today.

1. Tu hai mera prem devataa: A duet by Rafi & Manna Dey from Kalpana( 1950). This is a classical number based on raag Lalit. Two male singers providing background to two female classical dancers ( Ragini & Padmini) is a unique experiment.
2. Aankhon se jo utari hai dil mein: Sung by Asha Bhosle for ’’ Phir wohi dil laya hoon’’ in another distinctive song. A maiden’s sigh of love, yearning for her lover, set to a beautiful, touching tune. The song has no beat, no percussion at all, yet so beautiful!
3. Jaiye aap kahan jayenge: Another Asha Bhosle number from Mere Sanam. Very unique format; initial lines have only guitar rhythm, followed by Tabla which gives way to snare drums brush beat. Antaras(stanzas) too have similar format. The ending alaap and usage of Santoor in prelude ,are superb.

4. Bahut shukriya, badi meherbaani: A Rafi-Asha duet from ’’ Ek musafir ek haseena’’, that gives full freedom to Rafi to showcase his unique quality of gliding across the octaves accompanied by some heavy voilin counters. Main Pyar ka rahi hoon based on a classical raga was another superb composition.

5. Aao huzoor tumko: An Asha number from Kismet. The song starts with poetry recitation in tarannum without any music, suddenly turns into a classical format, only for guitars to take over and a western type of club song follows. Another interesting experiment.Surprisingly, the remix of this song is one of favorites of the youngsters of today.

6. Mera naam chin chin chu: A racy, fast, rock-n-roll number sung by Geeta Dutt in ’’Howrah Bridge’’ is an evergreen OPN classic. The beautiful prelude on Guitar, Mandolin and Hawain Guitar, the interlude on trumpets and clarinets, the dholak beat in the antara, and effortless switchover to rock-n-roll drum beat make this number memorable.

7. Aapke haseen rukh pe: A beautiful, slow, beatless melody by Rafi from ’’ Bahrein phirbhi aayeingi’’ has only piano for accompanyment. No other instruments at all! Hemant Kumar much later copied the format in Anupama.

8. Haath aya hai jabse: An Asha- MK number from ’’ Dil aur Mohobbat’’ is a beautiful melody with some exquisite pieces of orchestration especially the hawaain guitar.The film had superb background music during credit titles, and a great cabaret song"Uff".

9. Akeli hoon main piya aaa: Asha Bhosle sings this classical based mujra in ’’ Sambandh’’. The hitherto unheard usage of flat & Sharp notes, Sarod interlude, and a distinctive taal make this song unmatched.

10. Huzoorewala: A racy dance number sung by I think Asha Bhosle and Meenu Purushottam is set in a very uniquely formatted tune of a quawali in western mould.The superb use of the pause, is unique and no one has tried it except for " Dil da mmamla hai" Another interesting experiment. OPN, the tru rebel, was the original ’’hatke’’ Music composer with a unique style of his own. Above few songs showcase his distinctive talent.

OPN has left behind such a rich legacy that I can write many more pages on his music.

OPN in his last few years, without any work, had to sell off his house in Pali Hill and move into a small flat in Ghatkopar and became a homeopath.

Thanks to Sonu Nigam and Rajendra Singh, they brought him back to the limelight featuring him in many episodes of popular talent show, " Saregama". OPN showed his greatness by admitting his great admiration of Shanker Jaikishan who for some unknown reason hated him and ridiculed him. Naushad of course, had great admiration for OPN.

OPN who died as an unsung hero, lives in the hearts of every Hindi film music fan and even now makes his appearance on Nostalgia based shows such as Total Recall being aired on TimesNow.

Samvedna-Jagjit Sings for Atalji

2010-04-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Samvedna is indeed a high powered album. Everyone connected with this casette is No.1 in his respective field. Six poems written by Atal Bihari Vajpayee , our honourable ex- Prime Minister are featured. The introduction penned by Javed Akhtar is read out in rich baritone by Amitabh Bachhan. The poems have been set to tune and sung by the great Jagjit Singh. To top it all, the video features Sharukh Khan mouthing the lead song of the album. The video as well as the audiocassette are a treat to any connoisseur of music and poetry.

ABV besides being a politician with over 50 years in public life, also is a well-accomplished poet. Many compilations of his poems have been published. He displays an exceptionally sensitive and philosophical side of his personality, which of course does not come as a surprise to anyone who has closely studied his conduct in public life.He writes in chaste Hindi, which is not as bad as Doordarshan brand Hindi, one can understand with a little effort. The underlying melancholy in some of his poems hints at having been betrayed in love, maybe, that is the reason why he d never to married. It’s my personal feeling.I am just speculating.

Now to the songs;

1.Kya khoya kya paya…is the lead song that is also featured in the video picturised on Shahrukh. ABV also makes brief appearance. Poet makes an introspection of his past to assess what all did he gain and what has he lost. Superbly composed song has been rendered soulfully by Jagjit. This is the best song of the album.

2. Ek baras beet gaya; Penned by ABV on first anniversary of the Emergency while he was still in jail. ABV is dismayed as well as surprised that one year has passed ! Many thought that in a democracy like India, something like Emergency could never happen, but it did ! and not even a dog barked! I too am a witness to the happenings during the period, it was unbelievable, a nightmare and a blot on Indian society and polity.

3. Jeevan beet chala: A beautiful stanza… Hani labh ke palade mein, ( Weighed in the scale of profit & loss, life has become a business, everything up for sale has a price, what is not for sale, becomes useless) Forgive me my poor translation, I am no poet.

4.Chourahe par; Another sensitive poem expressing the dilemma of an innocent bystander caught at crossroads of life.
5. Door kahin koi rota hai: A pensive, reflection on ironies of life and death.
6. Kadam milar kar chalna hoga: A forceful exhortation to his colleagues to work together as a team, a quality that eludes most of us in India. This was written after the dismal failure of the Janata Party Coalition at Centre. In retrospect, it now looks that if no one else, ABV surely took his own poem seriously and made it his basic action plan and guiding star. Reading the poem makes you feel the enormity of the task that ABV accomplished by holding together a motley collection of over two dozen political parties & groups in a shaky coalition which surprisingly completed its full term and did a good job. This one is another nice song in musical terms. Except for 1st and last, other compositions are not rich in musical value. The casette is worth adding to one's collection. The jacket gives full text of all the poems featured.

Sarojininagar-memories

2010-04-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

For the old residents of Delhi, this colony occupies a special slot and has lots of nostalgic memories of a lost era.The place holds special place in my heart because I grew up as a teenager in the environs.
This is primarily a housing complex for government servants , called "colony" was earlier known as Vinay Nagar when I first visited in 1956 . but by the time we started living there in 1961, it had become known as Sarojini Nagar , named after Smt.Sarojini Nayadu , and other parts were made into Netaji Nagar, Nauroji Nagar, Laxmibai Nagar etc.
The housing layout was divided into blocks from A to M, and some extra blocks such as EPT, LPT, ( P&T quarters), BD,XY& DG. A set of flats ( known as quarters) were earmarked for RBI employees in K Block.
SN was a full fledged, independent , self supporting township with its own Bus Depot, Market, Post Office, Police Station, Parks ,Community Hall ( BC Park), Municipal Hospital, Schools, a Bengali School and even a private industry; Gwalior Potteries.

SN was the first of its kind newly constructed colony in independent India, especially New Delhi and became a model for all the colonies to come up in the Capital around SN and elsewhere.Of course there were other older colonies like Gole Market, Lodhi Colony, Kaka Nagar etc.

The Main attraction was the Sarojini Nagar Market which had a charm of its own which it retains till today. Even now, it is best known for the fantastic shopping experience and is called the KarolBagh-cum-Connaught Place of South Delhi.
What I remember of my childhood days was the H shaped main market dotted by famous shops of those days of 60’s and 70’s. Albany Expresso at No.1 in the front row near the Bus Stand, was the only deluxe ,A/c restaurant , one of its kind in the entire neighborhood for the well heeled where an espresso coffee (nowhere else available)used to cost Rs.0.75 ,a princely amount those days when it used to be Rs.1.25 at Standard Restaurant above Regal in CP! Tiwari, the panwala at the corner shop used to be the best cigarette shop, a meeting point of all our friends circle. Watni Dhaba next door was typical Punjabi restaurant. Sindhi Boot house next door always had a Sale on.Bhushi's tea stall near the arch used to be the meeting point for all lafadis in the evening, Bhushi, a happy go lucky youngster then, used to supply grass to the adventurous among us.Next door was BabuLal , with a shack in the corridor had all kinds of miscellaneous items including Hindi film song booklets available for 5 paisa, and a variety of choorans and candies, next door was Ahuja Pharmacy. New Fotolife was a snooty photographer. In the more famous L shaped backrow, we had Mohan Sweets with those incredible, famous Samosas , next to Sagar Studio, Paradise Stores with an incredible collection of readymade garments was the fashion house,next door was Novex Dry Cleaner. Another well known landmark was the Golden Bakery where we used to take the Atta & Ghee from home to get the biscuits baked on jobwork basis, just as we had many Tandoors in the colony baking rotis on jobwork basis.

Other side of the L, we had Sardar Dairy famous for Cream & Desi Ghee and Keventers milk store. A couple of Radio Shops, an Ice cream shop, and a few furniture shops followed by Capital Dry cleaners at the corner which into fire accidents every now and then. The mirror image block at the rear had a couple of Banks, a few typewriting institutes, Sports& Shoes, the only store where one could buy canvas shoes, badminton racquets’, shuttlecocks etc. They also had branches at Lodhi Colony& Khan Market.
Rear Block had BluestarTailor at one end, and Manzil restaurant on other end , the only South Indian restaurant in entire region serving Dosas & Vadas. All the south Indians had only one place to have their native type of snacks and Thali food whenever felt homesick. Other few places where one could get south Indian food was CP, and of course Karol Bagh.
SN market started becoming more expensive as it started serving the more monied clientele of next door Chanakyapuri including bus loads from Russian embassy, then came up a ramshackle Babu market in shanties that offered daily needs of the poorly paid government babus at nearly 25-35% less than the next door main market. The shoppers started getting polarized. Then , one fine day the whole market got gutted in a fire accident. So much was the furore raised by the residents that the local government of Jansangh had to build a new concrete market within a few months and that Babu Market is still drawing crowds.

In between the lanes of the main market were houses a few coaching institutes like PT College etc. which used to offer certificates like Punjab Matric, Gwalior Matric etc. to the people who could not pursue a regular school education.A teacher in one of such “College” was Mr. Ramdhan who became a local level Politician, and many years later joined VP Singh into forming Jan Morcha. I am told even Sahib Singh Verma, who grew up becoming CM of Delhi stared his teaching career in one of these institutes before joining DAV College at Srinivaspuri.
Sarojini Nagar was an important votebank which no major politician could afford to ignore,and Jansangh ( now BJP) had its firm base here. I have as a school kid, attended political rallies addressed by ML Kurana, VK Malhotra, KN Sahni, ML Sondhi, and even Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Sanjay Gandhi.I moved out of SN in 1975 to Motibagh, another Govt.colony.
Sarojini nagar of today is very different from what it was during the good old days, yet it still has its own charm and place in the hearts of Delhites.A colony which had only bicycles& scooters today has huge parking problems! I for one, have unforgettable memories of my younger days and everytime I pass through SN , those nostalgic memories come flooding back. My siblings who are away from Delhi for decades, make it a point to visit SN whenever they come to Delhi.My childhood friends many of them in Europe & US, say they can recognize a Sarojininagari anywhere in the world!

The Bold and the beautiful-mother of all soap operas

2010-04-21T04:01:00.000-07:00

The Bold & the beautiful: The Mega Soap

B&B has had a very huge influence on Television shows all over the world, and is still running since 1988. Star World telecasts it in India, it started in India since 1992 on Starplus, and has influenced Indian soaps in a big way.

Me and my family have been big time followers of the serial, and we have lots of memories associated with the show. My kids have grown up watching the show, and with each and every episode are associated various memories of them growing up and of various parts of our lives. We share a huge connection with the show and we still manage to catch up on the internet because of inconvenient show timings on TV.

B&B started airing on CBS primetime in November-1988, and as of Jan-2007, is still running as a daytime Soap.

This is primarily a story of 3 families: Foresters, Logans, and Spectras. Others like Spencer’s etc. make a brief connection and then disappear.
The story is primarily that of Forrester family, dominated by Stephanie Forrester, wife of Eric Forrester who as a designer CEO runs one of the most famous fashion houses on US. Foresters have 4 children, Ridge, Thorne & Kristen all work with Foresters Creations, Felicia, the rebel daughter has walked out and lives alone somewhere in New York.

As the story starts unwinding, Foresters, especially the matriarch Stephanie is jumping from one crisis to another;

I am summarising a few initial episodes to whet your appetite. I will post the total summary of the story so far telecast separately.

1. Eric Forrester who having discovered that his long lost, sweet heart of his college years, Beth Logan has come to LA with her daughters. Eric is thrilled to meet the lonely & sad Beth whose husband has deserted her. Eric brings love and cheer to Beth and also re-kindles his emotions for her.
2. Eric having discovered that Steph is spending three afternoons every week with some mysterious person in a house in Santa Monica that belongs to Steph, and this has been going for last 25 years, decides to divorce her. Stephanie is fighting to save her marriage. Eric forces Stephanie to take her to Santa Monica hideout to confront whoever is living there, and is shocked to discover his invalid daughter Angela, who was supposed to have been dead 25 years ago. Eric , shocked by the sacrifices made by Stephanie in keeping the autistic child alive for 25 years, drops his divorce plans and seeks forgiveness.
3. Stephanie engages an investigator to trace & track Stephen Logan, husband of Beth, and brings him back & re-unites with his abandoned family. This makes Beth back off from making advances on Eric.
4. Thorne is married to Caroline though she loved Ridge, but her father Bill Spencer knowing Ridge’s philandering days, never approved of the alliance. Caroline, still lusts for Ridge and is unable to make the bond with Thorne, her husband. This worries Stephanie and she is always afraid of Caroline breaking up the marriage and Thorne’s heart.
5. After a night of excessive drinking, Ridge plays a prank and slips in bed with Caroline and ends up having sex with her. Stephanie comes to know of it and is now afraid of consequences if Thorne comes to know it.
6. A delirious and drugged Thorne trying hard to fight his insomnia hears his parents discuss the Ridge’s indiscretion of having slept with his younger brother’s wife. A shocked Thorne gets sizzled with alcohol. Dangerous combination of drugs& drinks makes Thorne pick up his mother’s gun and shoot at Ridge. Stephanie witnesses the incident from her bedroom window. After the shooting, Thorne passes out and has lost all memory of the incident.

To continue later.........

Mobile phones-handsets need design changes.

2010-04-21T03:56:00.000-07:00

It is a fact that the younger generation is the biggest customer segment for Mobile Phones, but that is not the only segment!

There are Middle aged people as well as elderly people too who do need and use Mobile Phones, but all the handsets are designed as if all customers are teenagers only.

The designs, color schemes, font size, screen size, utilities, additional functions, keypad, the entire focus is for youth only.

The keys are so small that you need tiny wiry fingers to operate the key pad. If you exert slightly higher pressure with stubby fingers, the key jumps and the function goes awry.

The writings/markings on the keys are so tiny that people needing reading glasses find it difficult to operate without putting on the glasses first.

When you are providing so huge screens, why should the font size remain so small? Why can’t the incoming caller ID or the message be displayed using a larger and bolder font?

The backlit keys make it impossible to distinguish from each other and identify the correct key unless you have a perfect 6/6 vision and model like pair of hands with thin fingers! And pointed fingernails!

Why cant the handsets be designed for normal, grown up, decent people without any flashy features& gaudy colors? Why can’t the sets be made elegant, user friendly, utilitarian, rugged, and durable, instead of being fragile, too small, too user unfriendly, too many useless features & functions that are rarely ever used. Despite the larger screen size & keypad size why should the font as well as the keys to be miniature sized?

If you want to create a directory of frequently used numbers that can be dialed quickly for calling or sending a message, it is a very complicated process.

There can be hundreds of improvements & design changes that can give your brand unique USP and marketing advantage over other brands. In addition to existing models, you can and must design newer models for Middle aged and the elderly who have poorer vision, stubbier fingers, lesser ability to learn and imbibe as well as remember complex operating procedures and steps.

Why should every handset manufacturer, have a totally different design & user interface? Why can’t they standardize the basic design,layout of keys,user interface. Just as the keypads of, computers, telephone instruments, calculators etc. have been standardised all over, why all mobile handset manufacturers agree to some common design parameters and make life easier. Why can’t the battery charger be also standardized so that one need not have a number of chargers at home, in office and in the car?

I urge the handset manufacturers think on all the above and come out with an improved model which fits and elegant, decent, well heeled, elderly/middle aged user who can and will spend a few dollars more for a decent , more user friendly handset .

Bread Pakora-favorite of Delhites

2010-04-21T03:40:00.000-07:00

Bread Pakora is an ubiquitous typical Delhi snack rarely found elsewhere in the country.

The triangular deep fried Pakora made of 2 slices of bread with a sandwich of mashed masala potato stuffing is a delicacy the way it is prepared in Delhi. It is the most common and most popular snack available all over NCR and is multipurpose snack for breakfast, tea time , tiffin, a quickmeal with a cup of hot tea. Delhites just love the item .

I have very fond memories of the item. Good old mid sixties of my college going days, leaving home early morning without breakfast, most of us used to live on break pakora which was our breakfast. Almost in all the college and school canteens, bread pakora served with generous portion of so-called sauce( which was a kind of pumpkin & tamarind ketchup , disguised as tomato ketchup) or a green mint chutney is the hottest selling item even in modern times of westernized snack foods like burgers & pizzas.

Every tea joint, every halwai, every snack shop from a non-descript roadside dhaba to the upper class Nathu’s and Haldirams, all over Delhi region prepares & serves bread pakora . The taste and tang of roadside eateries cannot be matched by the Nathus and Haldirams.
Early seventies when I entered job, once again the morning snack was bread pakora for years . When I was posted out of Delhi , living all alone in Kota, scouring around the dhabas for snacks & eats, one thing which I missed most was Bread Pakora. Though Kota had its own famous Pyaz-kachori , but nothing could beat my favorite snack.Later days, once again living alone in Nagpur, I searched for Delhi type of bread pakora , which was nowhere available. I discovered Haldirams in the process which had only localized presence in Nagpur only those days.

Even now, when I am in my early sixties and not able to digest the street food , I still yearn for my favorite dish and manage to order the bread pakora whenever an opportunity is available, but that taste and quality of the bread pakoras of my school & college days seem elusive, lost forever.

What a life!

2010-04-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

What a mess of Life have we made!

During last 10-15 yeas, our lives have changed drastically. The Internet, Cable , Satellite TV, 24 hour channels, The entertainment& communications electronics have changed our lives forever. But, at the same time, have brought in unseen and undreamt of complications and what a bloody mess have we made of our lives!

1. Plethora of Remote control units : I sit in my room and arranged around me is an array of remote control units, and many times, I just go crazy trying to find the right one and when found, make it work ! I have to slap it, rub it, shake it, fondle it,snap the battery cover, adjust batteries, many times change the batteries and then make the damn thing work…. ....just to realize that I am struggling with the wrong one! Now the number of remotes: one for the AC, one for the Music System, one for the Set Top Box/DTH, one for the TV, one for the speakers/Home Theater, one for the DVD Player, At times I just recall those good old days of simple life, my Dyanora Black & White TV with just one channel-DD, and just a few hours of uninterrupted bliss, ogling at beautiful Mukta Srivastav and enjoying dashing smile of Salma Sultan, Matronly, benevolent Pratima Puri's calm voice used to be such a solace.
2. Then there is a huge confusion of chargers and adopters. My whole house if full of chargers and adopters of various shapes & sizes. The number of plug-ins is more than the plug points available, which brings us to the complications of extension cords and mess of dangling wires all over. Many times I have chase the wire all the way from beginning to the end just to find out which gadget does this cable belongs to!
3. Then there are a couple of computers , laptops, i-pods, and other gadgets full time on, in addition to the good old MTNL phone ( which qualifies for address proof, if nothing else), and another land line given free with the broad band/internet connection.
4. My kids’ room looks like the cockpit of a space ship with gadgets strewn all around, number of cables, plethora of chargers and adopters with their blinking colorful LED’s, phones ringing incessantly while my daughter tries to ,locate the handset under the pillow/behind the sofa/buried under pile of clothes stacked aimlessly in a corner. Many times, she calls her own mobile number from the landline just so that she can locate her handset! While the laptop is busy downloading music/videos/movies/tv serials whatever, i-pod dock is blaring away at peak volume, and then she is shouting into her phone because she cant find the remote control to mute or reduce the volume while her mother is shouting for her to have the breakfast which is anyway getting cold on the Dining Table. Just to keep herself away from all this mess, she locks herself in her bedroom and we have to send an sms to inform our daughter that Dinner has been served! What a life!!!
5. All of us pretty much stick to our rooms with a handful of remotes keeping us fully busy, and then if someone calls up on the Landline phone, or rings the main door bell, Oh God, what a punishment it is to answer the call or the door!
6. Once in a while if the charger conks off, or the mobile charge is down, it looks like a disaster! What will I do Papa ?wails my daughter. I have to find another way of enabling her phone by locating an old charger, usb cable, or just to surrender my handset for her to load her sim card for the time being.
7. Every time my blackberry chimes, I run to pick up and check the mail…. Just to find that one more junk mail has landed offering me a dream flat / dream holiday/deal of a new insurance policy etc.
8. Multi-tasking is something which I had never understood in full till I discovered it by looking at my kids, my daughter has her TV on, she glances at it once in while, she is one phone in her one of those endless conversations, and 10-15 windows are open on her computer , 3-4 down loads are happening, 3-4 emails are open, a few portals as well as 3-4 chats are going on. All this is happening while she is having her breakfast, or Dinner. I am waiting at her Door just to ask her if she can send back the driverto her Mom, and she is to signaling me to wait just for a minute, for the last 15 minutes. My wife wants to know whether she wants her eggs fried or boiled for today’s breakfast, there are two servants nagging my wife to tell them what to do, and the phone is ringing.
9. I am running around trying to get ready and leave early to beat the traffic, but the phones wont stop ringing, and the door bell rings every few minutes, the milk man, newspaper, subziwala, maid, driver, chowkidar with a RWA circular, presswala asking me to count the number of clothes, someone or the other is at the Door. Me and my wife are constantly shouting at someone or the other, and most often , at each other as well.

This is the High Tech Life, full of gadgets, comforts,etc. But, is it any better?
Where is the quality of life, where is the peace of mind, contentment, and Time to enjoy and savor each and every small morsel of enjoyment?

Why cant we have just one Card!

2010-04-15T02:28:00.000-07:00

Now days our life is full of so many cards. I am especially talking of the charge cards which are in a way , a financial instrument.

Firstly there are so many Credit Cards, debit Cards, and then ATM Cards, Top up Cards issued by various telecom service providers including for landlines and mobile networks. Then we have various kinds of discount cards issued by prominent retail establishments such as Reliance Fresh, Tata Card, Shoppers Stop and many more.
Why don’t we have one card which can be charged at various charge points in exchange for money rendered in cash, or through any other means. This card replaces currency and can be used to carry out various transactions being a pre-paid, cash charged card. The transactions should include topping up the talk time for all prepaid connections of all the operators, booking of air/ rail/bus/cinema tickets, paying bills of Electricity, Phone, making purchases at major retail outlets& Petrol pumps to start with, swiping the card to make payments of toll tax at various toll crossings, and also to transfer the balance to any other mobile phone connection.
Indian Banks Association & Cellular Operators Association can come together and adopt one card which should be honored by all of them. SBI or India Post, both of them have huge, all India reach to each and every corner of India can together issue Cards which can be made available at each and every branch of the State Bank and all the Post Offices.
Major Post Offices and Major Branches can provide top up/charging up facility against cash payment, whereas all other outlets can sell fixed value cards for Rs.100, 500, and Rs.1000/-.
This will make lives easy and convenient for all of us so that we can avoid carrying cash, live on just one card which can be used for variety of purposes, and make payments at various points of transaction.

Godmen & Swamis of India

2010-04-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

Just a few days another “Baba”was caught engaged in a prostitution racket worth Crores of Rupees and having hundreds of girls on payroll. The Diaries of the Baba seized which must be having details of the customers, will surely make an interesting reading should they ever become public. There is no hope of the Diaries ever seeing the light of the day. The powerful people who have access and possession of the Diaries will strike deals and make tons of money in exchange for silence and burial of the seized materialI have been seeing these kind of incidents all through my 40 years of adult life and have seen countless number of Babas/Swamis/Gurus being exposed,and ridiculed in public. Does any one remember how many such Babas caught,prosecuted,jailed or banished? I don’t think that this sudden raids on the Ashrams, seizure of material with the conveniently present media cameras rolling happens in normal course. These are stage managed events. Who choreographs these dance dramas and why is anybody’s guess. It is clear that these exposes,raids,seizures are never meant to prosecute the malpractitioners. These have totally different objectives. Every such Baba/Guru/Swami has his patrons,Godfathers,protectors and benefactors who have a vested interests in the prosperity and success of the Baba, When someone opposed to these patrons comes to power, he stages these shows to send a “message” to the concerned people to “behave” or else!
Despite all this and so many rackets exposed and in operation, there is a proliferation of such Godmen all over the country. Ashrams are sprouting up everywhere occupying thousands of acres of prime real estate in each and every part of the country, Charitable Trusts enjoying Hundreds of Crores of reserves from so called donations, Tax exempt at that ! Number of 24 hour TV Channels which cost hundreds of Crores to operate, seem to be thriving without any evident business model.Some of them surely have a stake in these kinds of exposes, and the resultant revenues.
The Gurus have now stared spreading their wings across the Globe, they are busy travelling abroad, sermonizing the gullible westerners, and home sick NRI’s and PIO’s, many of them with their hands in the till as well.
Organised Religion/Gurudom is the new business model perfected by the enterprising Indians. Someone can write a book on this and prescribe the same as a text book for Harvard Business School!

Holy Cow!

2010-04-12T03:54:00.000-07:00

There is some agitation going on somewhere in India over cow slaughter and a bunch of agitators backed by the Hindu outfits like Sangh Pariwar are clamoring for a ban on cow slaughter and legislation offering protection to the Holy Cows in this Holy Hindu land of ours! many swamis and Babas that Baba Ramdev manages to collect to endorse himself, also appeal for ban on cow slaughter and cow worship/
The shocking realities are known to everyone. We see Cows occupying urban spaces in all our cities , merrily camping in the middle of roads of our National Capital of Delhi a fact which I don’t know whether the Jan Sanghis, the BJP of today who have ruled Delhi city, makes them most proud and happy!
Another reality is the aimlessly wandering cows all over the country side bereft of any proper care or protection, hungrily poking around in garbage dumps , competing with pigs, dogs, and other animals for a share of discarded food, and even eating scrap paper, newspapers, and even choking on plastic bags. I don’t know where these great Gou Rakshaks, the so-called Cow lovers who are agitating for Gou Raksha are! What have they ever done to remove the cows from garbage dumps and give them proper food?
Every politician and cop knows it for a fact that hundreds of truck loads of cows/bulls/buffaloes are carried every day to Bangladesh for slaughtering, passing right through all the states of India, where innumerable “barriers” erected by Police,Octroi,Sales Tax, Toll Tax and various other Government agencies merrily accept their cut with a share duly passed on upstairs to their political masters and local Dons who protect this racket day in day out. Nobody lifts a finger at this, because everybody has a vested interest in this racket.Yet we have Hindu right wingers and fanatics with their own private hidden agenda exploiting poor professional protestors into various Morchas and Dharnas.

All this is a big sham, a big racket, everyone in the country knows it, yet the newspapers and Media carry the news of anti-cow-slaughter agitations which are quickly buried in backpages within a few hours, everybody forgets, and move on, till one fine day when the agitation erupts again, once more to be buried in the quicksand of “public memory”.
It is an endless Tamasha perfected as an art form by the fledgling Indian democracy!

Gujarat SIT Drama: Congress Game

2010-03-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

I sympathise with the family of the slain congress MP who was attacked by the marauding mobs in the Gujarat riots. Now his wife has filed a pettition accusing CM Narendra Modi of complicity, her excuse is that despite repeated telephone calls by Mr. jafri to CMO, no one was sent to rescue them.
Mr. Jafri faced with an angry and agitated mob which had gone crazy, did phone virtually everybody in the world including the Congress Bigiwigs in Gujarat, New Delhi and elsewhere. Is it not ironic that no one rushed to his rescue? The Great Congress party which claims to be the sole custodian and well wisher of the minorities, especially the Muslims in India, what did Congress do to rescue their leaders under attack?

I am surprised why no one from the Muslim community is asking this question from Congress!
Congress has ruled Gujarat for decades and has good amount of clout, thats why no Congress leader got attacked, why did the Congress outfits in Ahmedabad and elsewhere did not do Anything? Are they not the cowards of first degree?

Total Recall: Times Now brings alive memories

2010-03-28T23:52:00.000-07:00

Times Now, the newschannel dominated by everlooming omnipresence of Arnab Goswami which is becoming fast an irritant ( It seems like they dont have any other staffers except Arnab), has surprisingly come out with an excellent series called Total Re-call aired on Saturday Evenings 8-9pm and repeat on Sunday if you dont want to miss Big fight on Saturday evening.

The one hour programme is an excellent compilation of old Hindi film music videos organised on a particular theme, which keeps changing every week: Mohd.Rafi, Shakeel,Sahir,Rajendra Krishen,Naushad, etc. Whataever be the theme, the compilation videos are cleverly used from the same bank. Except for some stars like Shammi Kapoor etc. and the sons of the Singers/Lyricists, the so-called other experts are lack lustre.

The new series started from this week, on Indian Classics, the major pathbreaking movies like Baiju Bawra,,Naya Daur, Mother India etc. is also very nice.The series is quite a hit and has become quite popular with huge TRP points. Weaning away the viewers on Saturday evenings is not an easy job, but Times Now has managed to pull it off with this hit formula of nostalgia laced with superb music of yester years which everyone yearns for. Congrats to Arnab from keeping himself out of the programme.

Roshan- A rare talent

2010-03-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

Music Composer Roshan, father of Rakesh & Rajesh Roshan: Grandfather of the current hearthrob of Hindi film Industry, also known as Bollywood, Hrithik Roshan, was a great music composer, and a very different kind of a musician.
Starting in 1950 with Bawre Nain: and ending with Anokhi Raat in 1967, he was active only for 17 years and I think did less than 50 films, I know of onl 25!.
Even with so few films and such a short career span, yet he managed to leave behind such a great treasure of rich music which India still remembers and hums, is no mean an achievement.
I was no great fan of his while he lived, nor do I think that he had many, whereas Shanker Jaikishen,OP Nayyar and many other contemporaries of Roshan had huge fan following and huge fan clubs. I liked his songs, and I really came to understand his greatness only after he died and I grew up.

Some of his best songs that I loved are:

1. Khayalon me kisike: Bawre Nain
2. Sari Sari Raat teri:Aji Bus Shukriya. This song was so popular that it got copied in many languages of south: Kannada, Telugu & Tamil.
3.Roshan was very fond of Mukesh, and he used him very well as you can hear right fromhis first movie, "khayalon me kisike" rightndown to the last film Anokhi Raat, " Ohre Taal mile nadi ke jalmein, Nadi mile Saagar mein"..... but Roshan could, never hit big circuit till he discovered Mod.Rafi in 1960 with Barsaat Ki Raat. The songs of the film are immortal, they are today the signature tunes of Roshan, the very definition of his style and identity. This journey continued with Aarti, Dooja ka Chand, Taj Mahal, and the ultimate: Chitralekha when Roshan composed the ultimate best song so far ever done: " Man re, tu kahe na dheer dhare" in Raga Yaman which has become a textbook illustration for Hindustani Classical Music.
There was another great treasure which Roshan wanted to bequeath, that was " Mamta". The last Hindi film of Suchitra Sen, with fantastic and unforgettabke songs like: " Rahein na rahein hum", Rehtae the kabhi jinke dil mein- A Ghazal far far superior to anything that the Ghazal King Madan Mohan ever composed, and the song " Chhupa lon yun dil mein pyaar mera" Hemant-Lata duet is the ultimate in melody!.

Roshan did try to modernise or contemporise himself,just to keep up with times, he failed miserably: He tried to copy O P Nayyar, and composed music for a Shammi Kapoor starrer, the songs were good, but the film did manage to Sink! Can you readers tell me the nameof the film?

Do we think right?

2009-09-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

We are always running after something, a friend, a partner, a course, a job, a rise, or whatever.
When we get it, we realise that it is not as exciting as we thoiught it would be! do you know why? Because we are always looking for a destination, little knowing that the only destination is DEATH, everthing else is a journey.

In our fruitless search for a destination, we forget to enjoy the journey! What a tragedy. If only we start thinking on these lines, we will start enjoying each and every day.