BANDH AND IBBANDHI

I have nothing against any fight for the change or the revolution nor do thousands and lakhs of people will have any objection or resistance to the ongoing fights in the country for various reasons..  But what has happened to the sensitivity of 1) The common man 2) for the common man..  This writing is sparked not by the constant bandhs and subsequent result of trepidations and hardships of the “AAM AADMI” but by the article of P. Sainath in Hindu this monday..  Not sure how many have seen, how many have understood, how many have felt, how many have reacted and how many will do something.  He reported about the most painful reality that India is facing....  9 crore plus people have migrated to Urban areas and agriculture and all related activities have drastically suffered....  This is the root cause of all insecurities and hardships in our land... Do we really understand this....  How much more can we degrade?  Just imagine the loss of everything for these people and also loss of the essence for these millions of helpless people... What else can highlight the state of affairs of our country especially when no one whose is responsible, either is not taking cognizance of the fact or just ignoring, and avoiding.

Sometimes one gets the feeling that, there is just gross indifference and utter disrespect for human beings by all of us...  who is benefitting from any movement and what is the final out put?  These bandhs and paralysis of public life hits only the poor and will these peoples life change after all? Will these revolutions, separatist movements mean anything to the most vulnerable and needy of the society..  Do they really belong to any region, caste, religion, party, community?  They remain the most exploited and form the active “ reserve force “ ( Marxian concept) to perpetuate all these struggles without knowing why are they part of these?  One day of food, some promise of shelter, one hope of better future or simply killing the depressing present forms the causes for their participation.

There are lakhs of people like me who don’t belong anywhere... We come from the old Hyderabad which was part of the madras state...  My father never had an answer on where we came from... All he said was that we are here since several generations...  We took pride being a Hyderabadi which is known for multilingualism and multiculturalism.. We watched telugu and Hindi movies with equal interest and cricket, movies was our religion and no region or any other demarcation was not known to us... For most of us, we knew the differentiation between the vegetarians and the non vegetarians.  It was only during the MA education in University Of Hyderabad that, the caste differentiations and discriminations hit me.... By this time, everyone is aware of what everyone is , in terms of region, caste, etc ...   we are supposed to have evolved, and globalized .

Hyderabad attracted enterprising people across all communities... There were plenty of people who were Gujratis , who were marwaris , who were parsis, who were Sikhs, who were reddy’s etc etc....  For us in Hyderabad, there were all business people, who were not doing a regular job. Most of us were happy as someone’s prosperity, someone’s richness was not perceived as robbing our opportunities and chances..  It was seen as a diversity of professions and living ways. So what is wrong if someone liked the culture of this place, tolerance and camaraderie and felt good to grow..  In the bargain , the place grew and prospered .... Now the perspectives changed and taken a separatist attitude and hatredness is brewing replacing love and tolerance.. IT is still alright but why not have the empathy for the poor and the vulnerable... Hyderabad can’t be this??

Petrol price hike, constant bandhs, absence of public transport, power failure, mockery of roads and the list is endless even to think, recollect and mention over here... The mention is not about the known, not about the obvious issues that surface all us starkly but its about the total indifference to one another in society.  It is not even egoistic helpless attitude.... i think its sheer indifference and absolute moral indolence to react to anything...  Modernity is all about indifference to everything that does not concern the self at that moment of time.  Not that one has to be revolutionary and take to streets.  Where is the voicing of the opinion? Where is the reaction?  Have each of us become like the AP government.... totally indecisive and leaving everything to anarchy and destiny?

Crime rates are going to up drastically very soon..  how else can one gratify the basic needs and live on this earth when there is so much indifference?  Who do we rely on .... What is the hope for the youngsters? Where are the role model people and healthy society?  And what are we giving the next generation? The helplessness and indifference?   This is beyond pessimism.... Yes we need to be more empathetic, more reactive and less greedy and less ambitious....

But the prime issue in our current society is the disparity between the poor and rich and that needs to be addressed and in every situation and time...

DHOOKUDU REVIEW..... MY POINT OF VIEW

Dhookudu.........   Was not a movie till it was released...  It was the hope of people to find an authentic relief from Corruption movements, political cases, hatred, price hikes, bandhs and all the insecurities of people..  The hype, the expectations clearly explained once again how crazy and dependent, are most of us on the movies for entertainment and relief...  It gave a strong feeling that, nothing can replace movies in entertainment.  It will forever be the biggest religion in India ..

Mahesh babu craze continues and his looks, mannerisms, commercial ads,  his attitude of seclusion from media  also helps him to continue to have an aura of mystery and excitement adding to the fresh expectations from every movie.  The comparison to few new hero’s ends here.. ..  Women, girls, children and most child like adults love him and keep looking forward to his movies..  His character represents the carefree, yet subtly intense, pragmatic yet particular about achievements and relationships..... generation.  In that sense he defines what is contemporary, trendy and slick..   Hence somewhere people have fixed Mahesh with their expectations.. and be carefree and energetic ..

In that sense, either the film maker’s job is tough as they need to cater to some cliché or easy as they know what audience wants and hence they need to make no mistakes when they make Mahesh movies.....  That’s it ?  Film makers know that, that’s not it as one thing that no one will ever know is what makes any entertaining product a hit.  More so movies....

Coming to Dhookudu movie, Mahesh babu fans.... women, children, childlike and normal people are sure to like it..  It’s got what they expect and it’s a complete entertainer missing few logics here and there..  But why do we the ordinary look for logic in movie when it’s missing everywhere else in our normal regular life ?  One line punch dialogues solicits whistles and screams.. in the movie..  His domination in romance and one-upmanship with Samantha will go very cool and entertain the normal audience.. of course a la pokiri kool dude like...  Yup, one can engage in comparison with Pokiri and Athadu and waste time and feel intelligent enough..  Then read these reviews and don’t watch movie to make such a judgement.

The happiness comes from the fact that after Maghadeera, and to some extent 100 % love, there is no genuine proper hit in Telugu and this one is a clean hit..  By the way, hit or miss or flop is for the producers and industry.... Movie buffs will enjoy this movie and of course, its easy on them to go to wash room during the bad song before the interval..  Indeed music is disappointing and Taman is fortunate as the hit movie will automatically make the audio also a decent hit.. Let’s not talk about examples here.

In one line this is a seenu vytla screen play movie with usual and expected line of comedy and punches and adopting a technique of Puri Jagan..  Sorry Vaitla,  Puri is superior in the technique of making maheshish style...  But the combination of vaitla puri is what worked for the film... Wondered how did the director handle so many characters with good ease and his hard work showed in every frame..  Nothing much to talk about Samantha except that she looks cute and needs to add some weight to carry off saris. 

Mahesh babu is like a james bond..  ( don’t we call his Dad Andhra James bond... When there was no telangana movement.... so Andhra is ok to represent AP then) ...  James bond movies will have a formula and slick stylish making..  You can’t expect it to be like other Hollywood movies..  They come as a breather from regular movies..  Mahesh movies are the same here.. There will be an element of Pokiri and Athadu and so what....  Its a clean 3 hours time pass and helps people to look forward to and keep away the nonsensical botheration of the usual issues in society... If film is a religion, Mahesh movies are signifying the same.. Don’t we all know that , movies are meant to be larger than life and not realistic.   Don’t expect Mahesh to play the characters of Ram, Saints, historian etc etc.....  He can do 3 idiots, tare zameen, chakde, Zindagi na mile kinds in telugu..

In nut shell, dhookudu is a must for the relief and thoroughly enjoyable movie with few inevitable doses of Violence.... Comedy and Mahesh presence is the high light...  Mahesh has come in the mould of Chiru and Amitabh in the comedy timing and has the naughty approach and romance of Nag and energy of Balayya and Venki...  hence he is easily the number one star of tollywood.   The next thing is the consistency and Business man will prove that..

Full marks to all departments especially the editing in little complicated story, but music is very disappointing ... How can Mahesh movie have average songs except the good sounding title song..

They define dhookudu as the feeling which compels you to do, not considering the dilemma of good or bad...  Its an energy, a gut feel  and that’s what the movie and Mahesh is all about.   Just watch and enjoy... But surely suspend all intellect please as movies are not meant to engage in rigmarole and intelligence...  hats off Mahesh and FB, Twitter generation will like this movie for sure apart from Mahesh fans ...( who are there all around) ..

Switch off BBM and whats up for sure ... moblies is your choice.. what can one say..

the silent revolutionary

The year was 1973 to 1975 approximately in warangal,  i felt the nearness of an elderly child around me and i experienced the warmth and comfort always from then on. Not very consciously but for sure i know that, i was inspired by him and he was my reference point for everything, visibly and intangibly.  I would get amused many times  at his imitations and observations around.  I can never forget that very popular thing “ Gyani zick “..   He would imitate a guy in the street school who would always split making that zick sound and his name was gyani. His imitation would be a relief and amusing .

From such vivid memory to the temple visits, to the reading , i used to look up to him. Around the same time ,  I remember that he was most worried when i got terribly sick once and expressed his profound love for me very explicitly.

1975 to 1978 , was in Hyderabad ... I mostly played with the girls in the family and he would always come and tease my sisters and quite irritatingly so. I would find it amused , angry and avoidable. Now it seems, he was full of energy and life. His way of expressing the love for the siblings was unique.  I would go with him for walks and also to play cricket with other brothers also. How can i forget that i was a reserve player doing the long wicket keeper standing behind the main wicket keeper. I would still be very excited and thrilled in that huge play ground amisdt all big children.  But it was he who made me comfortable and nurtured me.

During these years, he introduced me to libraries along with my dad and we read many comics including amar chitra kathas.  I was looking at him to complete reading so that we could go home but he would read for long and long.

He would take me to his friends place and there was one intelligent and very haughty Friend narendra and humble guy called raghunandan. Somehow he always came across as a very balanced and very openminded guy and a much better person than any one at that point of time. He would get close to all kinds of people and that was an eye opener for me .

Then we shifted to malaket in the year 1978 and then to kutbiguda and all along i felt he was there as a guidance and was around me. Everyday would be a secured day with some subtle learning. Then came the house construction at santoshnagar and both of us would go everyday taking with us boondi and ladoo and spend time till night . I enjoyed this every bit. Yes, we did watch many movies together.

My introdution to writing, creativity , and the  very  aspect of thinking differently was only because of him. I was in 10^th class and he just entered degree. I felt very sad that he couldn’t get into the engineering course as he worked extremely hard for this.  In degree first year, he was writing an article titled “ Mysterious death” and i got fascinated by his vocabulary and especially when he used the word “ Frustrated “.  It was so new then. I was very kicked when he let me think a name for his hero and it was PRITAM.   That entire experience of that article is very fresh and reverberates even today.

Joining degree college in Saifabad made him happier and he met an excellent friend “ uttam “.  This was a time when He, Uttam, his grand ma and My cousin prema used to get together and we had lots of experiences. Walking, eating custard, listening to music especially abba, talking etc were some of them.  We had lots of fun. He would never insecure about anyone or anything.  During this period again he got so sensitized about my mom and poor people. His empathy was so total and helplessness was so amazing. I would get bored sometimes but he would never stop feeling and talking.

He would play cricket but he was not as much passionate as we were. In fact he would consider it as a waste of time and he would study instead. During the exams he would make combined study with his friends and we would do the same with my friends. We would all go for the tea in the night and that was most enjoyable. One day, as we were walking towards the tea cafe he just disappeared. On frantic search, we discovered that he fell into a 7 feet ditch and laughed with us like a child when we lifted him up. I always wondered how he could fall off like that.

He was extremely conscious about the family income and hence joined as a receptionist in the Hotel emerald. In fact he was competing with Uttam on this. I remember he was getting 350 as salary and was also getting tips. My dad was dead against this job but silently he continues to do that with opposing dad. Today i realize and it is confirmed that, he had this same attitude in life, of doing what he likes despite opposition but would involve in arguments or confrontation.

One day there was a curfew and he didn’t come home for 3 days. My dad made a fuss. There were no telephones and we walked to a friend place, Mr verma, half a Km away. We made the call and i felt so relieved that he was safe and happy.. After that i think he left the job and joined sarabhai chemicals.  I didn’t like him go away from me and family and somewhere he came across as a tough guy. He must have hardly worked for few months, he got a job in the corporation bank in Nellore.

This changed his life and from here his life took a path to create and make history ...

I used to him a lot and there was no way we could be in touch. One day, i just took some money and told my mom that i just want to go away to nellore to my brother and they agreed. I just landed there and went straight to bank at 5 am in the morning. I couldnt reach him and so stayed in a dinzy hotel for few hours. The place was big enough to stretch my legs and the fan made lots of noise.

Later at 8 am, i was happy to reach him. I stayed for 5 days and one of the most memorable stays in my life.  We watched movies, enjoyed food at komala vilas and went to tirupathi.  Had a very very wonderful time and i cried to come back. He too shed tears.  I could remember late that the communism was christened in him  in nellore. One Person he was particularly impressed was Mr Arun Bhaskar.

From there life went on and we were facing 2 major crisis and marriages in family. Dad’s bad health took heavy toll on us and later lata’s marriage depressed all of us. During dad’s transfer issue, he dealt very well with the collector and got dad transfered to Hyderabad back.

Then he got married and i was happy for him.  I got depressed when he lost hero honda once  but he got it back.  All I rememeber is that I couldn’t see him suffer or feel bad about anything. He seldom expressed about feeling bad for himself. He was an altruist by all means

Then i too got married and he got busy and i did. But there was always mutual respect and concern. He tried hard to get me into communism and i failed him even as i believe in the ideology. May be I am not that honest as a human like him . In that sense he was way above the basic , normal needs and wants..

As he went on and on, he became more and more calm, more reflective and I could always sense that, he was not particularly participating in any of the social gatherings.  There was never disrespect of any kind but one can in retrospect understand that his priorities were far ahead and different from the rest .  A silent revolutionary   was born and is alive and will be alive for ever and ever .

Virtually everyone would criticize the party, ideology, the situations amidst the political scenario and expect him to fall in line for money, recognition and fame.  He would always smile on those occasions and just not give too much importance to negative things.  He was so clear about what he is believing and what he is following and doing.  Such clarity in silence can only be the feature of great visionaries. Other wise we are all in hurry to prove, to achieve something instantly.

The party life, poor people, change in society was his goal, his way of life and hence the core activity for him. The stress buster was never there and only sharada , sindhu, ujwal gave him the change and relief apart from the news channels.

How can I forget , his passion for music. He would often sing and also sing in his office on occasions and also won few prizes.  But this never came as a relief during his active party life as he didn’t believe in anything else. Yes, he did get on to walking habit in the morning for more than a year  now.

On few occsions, he looked up to me subtly to take care of few family matters. He trusted me deeply and honestly .  I always felt I am accountable to him and I can t go wrong.   I failed to get him party funds when ever he sensitively asked for them. He was so conscious about my time and work.  How could he think for and on so much.  Indeed he was a an seeking welfare of everyone.

I would get very worked up when ever i knew about his ill health or worry. He never directly told me about any such thing.  But i always wanted to be with him in any crisis.  I least resisted when he was sure about ditching the job for party and indeed he was contented, relaxed and happy about the decision. Only my bhabhi could have supported for his cause.

What a couple they are/ were..........  I haven’t seen such friendship in a married couple  and such a wonderful  companionship is a rare occurence in this world . Perfect understanding and adjustment without any crib, ... his child like vulnerabilit and dependency on my Bhabhi is the best part to describe what he is ... His innocence would not have allowed to him to take any pressure outside the human welfare and party affairs.

The minute it was told that he had a brain stroke, was shocking and the 5 days in hospital’ was as horrible as anyone can ecperience when their dear is in coma and we are helplessly waiting in optimism. Finding justifications, answers, hopes and bonding with one another for hope.

Religiion, prayers, astrology all proved wrong , may be because he didnt believe in them and may be because they are all not right . hence he didnt give any importance .

He cant die so early and in fact he has not died. He lived a big life and not long. We all discovered what big life he lead after he died.

If he wanted, he could have lead a so called normal life of an engineer or an IAS officer for all his brilliance but he choose to utilize all his talents and skills for the party which he believed was for the poor and for the real social change. May be he was true but such people who make so many changes without any recognition die a death of a martyr which society doesn’t value much . But how does it matter anyways ...

“ he prefered to die this way “  “ he did all he wanted “........ “ everyone has to die “    And many many many theories, practical answers, understanding , rationality,  and adjustments............ may be these are in evitable but the silent revolutiionary , my brother is gone and one essence of me is also gone...

Jai ho comrade shekar ........my inspiration, my leader , my brother , my mentor and you cant be replaced anywhere...

We all pray that sharada, mom, ujwal, sindhu should have courage and all of emulate you and do what ever for the society and people at large.

THE ESSENCE OF ......LIFE IS EPHEMERAL

Abstract mind, insufficient discipline, emotional hurry makes my readings out of rhythm and will irk systematic and good writers.. Honest and sincere apology....

The essence of my last blog...... Azharuddin has many brilliant qualities and hence his huge tremendous success on the professional front...  Those qualities are his essence, those which are required for success like poise, grace, detachment, balance and right attitude of success and failure...

We witnessed the same qualities when his son left this physical world..  Like they say class is permanent and all that happened to azhar is immaterial for all of us... Before this incident..  God will help him come out of crisis.. HE taught many people like again on how to handle life in crisis..

We love azhar , the hyderabadi who played a crucial for india and many like me to learn..

THE EPHEMERAL LIFE........... some learning from Azhar

Azharuddin son is dead and Azhar  is very composed and doesn’t lose his balance at such hard times ..   Loss of a child, and in that a teen age child is one of the most difficult things to handle and to  come out without getting disillusioned about life is a great virtue … But life has a way and life goes on….. It has to go on…

Couldn’t help feeling very sympathetic for Azhar as he has seen tough times in life like most of us have in varied dimensions and measure..  But  Azzu bhai was one of the significant entity in many of our lives and he was essential part of our growing up… Don’t want to even vaguely get into his scandals as that is just one part and is history leaving many questions unanswered..

The year 1984/85 and it was Calcutta ( not Kolkatta then ) and he walked into the eden gardens and looking at the crowd ….. For a shy Hyderabadi  orthodox muslim, that sight should have been enough to shit bricks and the situation was so very tense and demanding …  What happened in 3 matches forms a great and good part of Indian Cricket history.  His style, endurance, shot selection, temerity, presence on the ground, alacrity on the field were instantly talked and appreciated ….  Hyderabadis probably did not have a bigger reason in more than a decade to take pride of…  No hindu, No Muslim… He is Azzu bhai, living in Vittalwadi in a proper pucca middle class home with hardly a two wheeler at home and his Dad being a Govt officer..

His Humility, his hard work, his simplicity was noticed and much talked…  For most of us , he made us believe that, sheer talent can silently get the accolades and deserved recognition. My brother Ratan instantly recollected that he was his class mate in Aliya Junior college and that he would not talk much. That he was god fearing and extremely simple but used to hit huge sixers that would come off to the main road near Nizam College .

We would all go and cross his home and hope to see him but quite soon he was protected by his friends and family.  On day I saw him passing santoshnagar on a scooter as pillion and it was hard to believe and this was after he played couple of series …

Somewhere success, money, recognition got into his head and life changed for him and we are no one to comment or judge as everyone in their terms make mistakes in life..  But Azzu bhai belonged to our age group’s consciousness, beliefs, expectations and his success was our success and his failure was saddening to us..  His earliest and quick learning was communicating in English and once I had the rare opportunity of interviewing him for Radio at his home just a while before he was dropped as captain for Australia tour…  I felt I did not do a run of the mill interview…  But after the interview, I asked him how he felt…  He quipped’ ky hai, sab routine hai”… I was shocked at his utter candidness. But that’s how we all were… very upright and unafraid..

Somewhere after he got embroiled into a controversy, we all moved away from him and did not even want to concur or deny..  Our love for him made many of us silent … May be like in watching films, we suspended our disbelief..  Life moved 2 decades after that……. Suddenly his composure, his grace at the tragedy has made me recollect what I will take liberty and call “ The essence of Azzu bhai”……God give him peace and strength to get over this…

This affects many of us a lot….  Just a silent introspection …. Life is so ephemeral and this lack of permanency should time and again give us a strong lesson that, what are we holding everything for?  Why is this attachment to people, material and intangible… How many books and how much knowledge is required to make us know to let go everything … We leave this life and this life leaves us ……. Why are we all striving to be un happy?  Azzu bhai was happy after his 3 centuries and not after he had money to all the watches in the world he loved to…..

This moment belongs to us… We eat we sleep we talk we breathe, we walk, we watch we experience and all on our own and for our self…. Detachment is what all religions preach and detachment is what gives us everything we ever wanted… hold to leave and leave to hold is the essence of life..  this, azzu bhai knew somewhere very intently  and probably belief in religion taught him that… But our common religion, cricket betrayed him as he betrayed the game too.  He got possessive about his being and he failed then… He is detached now and he succeeded to live on….  Azzu bhai is one example to learn and we are several examples to ourselves to keep improving each minute… Let go to let be….

Just remain silent for 5 minutes and observe the breath and thank the unseen and remain calm…  Life and nature are crying to help and teach us… Lets embrace the wisdom…  God bless all and Azzu bhai will hit more centuries on life values of crisis’s   and come out successfully from the tragedy ..

FAMILIAR STRANGERS

Few readings will have everlasting impact .. It might depend on the time of learning and largely on how it is taught... I always vividly remember my Sociology Professor Dr Ratna naidu who was pretty tough in her way of teaching and ofcourse behavior too..  Many times i wonder how my life would have been if she were not my teacher..  Till graduation, i was doing science and suddenly i had taken social sciences and the understanding and the method of studying was so totally different... She gave us a tough book titled , "Mind Self and society" to read, By George Herbert Meed... and also couple of other incisive articles , which according to her would open give the insights and open the window of thr world...

Indeed it did and one of the articles i remember from those days in 1988 was Urbanism as a way of life , by Louis worth... Of many things that he propounded, he talked about the concept of Familiar strangers..  The idiom attracted me and it seemed like i understood what it meant....  Familiar people becoming strangers ... Was not such a rampant phenomenon then but is the prominent reality today... Not knowing ones neighbour is not a sin or a rarity anymore but .... familiarity can turn into  anyways and achieve any meaning  is the in thing.... Once you are familiar,  it can  become a friendship or  the person can become or seen unknown...  this way there is no commitment on the relationship...

The worst part can be that, people avoid people easily and pretend not to know.... Sometimes it makes me wonder if the world is so small that people want to be on their own or is it that most people are insecured and hence they want to hide from people... Do people hide, do people want to be left alone,  or is the world so big that each wants to have their own private expereince?  Many articles are written, many books published, many theories propounded about why people are lonely and why many choose to remain alone... It gets into psychology, sociology and all related areas but how some people perceive realities much much before like louis wirth...   This also means that we choose to see what we want to see and it only takes a detached genius to see the world objectively ....... But all said and done, one has to keep bonding and not stay aloof how ever technology one has at the doorstep..

One of the easiest way to stay that we care is to wait for few seconds and not close the lift door when some one is locking their home and say just acknowledge the human presence in the lift, with the security guard, office boy and everyone we know and dont know but share the similar space on the earth and be freindly people and not familiar strangers

THE 1983 Generation

Meeting Anees, ( DAS....  dastagir anees shareef ) for the lunch was very special today..  Meeting him after couple of years did not make much difference to our relationship.  we continued from where we left..  There are no complaints, no hidden feelings, no bitterness and a natural understanding and effortless empathy between us..  Obviously it was all about catching up on the times from 1980 to 1992 approx....  Those were the real years of bonding, of innocence.. Those were the times before economic reforms happened in the country... Times when even land line phone was a rarity... pocket money concept was unknown to the majority..  All we would spend was on the split itani chai, osmania biscut and occasional chota samosa and not to foget the fingers dipped water in the steel glass.

We knew not much about the fear and insecurity.. Ambition to own the car, own the house, oppulence, buying was not that popular those days..  What bind all of us was the cricket...  today we talk about the cricket being passion and religion.    Then it was the only religion, the only sport, the only entertainment and the only life, hundreds of us had in several colonies out together...  Cork balls, matches, green mats, glace balls and hardly one pad, wicket keeper gloves, bare foot playing was few characteristic features that can be easily recalled.

every match, we collected some fifty paisa to one rupee as we had to buy the new ball costing some 3 rupees and the rest was to give to the winning team ...  We hardly won with our own team... We had stars like Ratan , my brother who was popular for his left hand bowling.... Vishwanath who had style but his success rate was not high, Dr Ashok who was good but never had the support... Hard hitter Anees and Self proclaimed spinner Venkat and not to forget my defensive opening batting and wicket keeping.  How can i forget Vijay mamu ....  Myself and him started it all in the colony ..  We identifed a cross pitch opposite to my home and Adiseshappa uncle home and played for very long.. All of us joined subsequently..  In curfew we played and offered police men chai and they also let us play ... Sridhar home offered even tiffins to them sometimes ...

But Subsequently, We had cricket series for 7 days when there was curfew and on long holidays too, we were playing cricket and only cricket. We did not know anything other than that..  Sometimes reading in the library was known for few and i also used to join but not like the fun we had from cricket..... Many teams got submerged into one another from different colonies  and after a time the competitiveness of the team got lost... There were popular players like Bhabby who was so huge and people used to dread his bowling and once i took the catch behind the stumps on fluke without the gloves and i became hero from then on... there was a player called Rafat who was six hitting specialist , Venkat who was a hard hitter, Raju a good bowler, Idrees whom i introduced as a surprise bowler , bowled googlies but also many wides....

There were several grounds...  7B was very popular and also the vinaynagar colony grounds, the SBI colony grounds, The New santoshnagar colony grounds, our own Central excise at several places at different times.. Then came DMRL grounds etc etc.. Playing in Central excise colony was very special as we would loose balls to few houses and never dared to ask them back for balls as the children from those houses would not play..  We all wondered what did they do with all those balls.....

Once we collected money and brought second hand gloves, wickets, pads etc and now i wonder if ever such a thing is happening anywhere in the world now..  We all dared to play without accessories and not that one has to do that now... But those were the times and not all homes used to give money.. My dad was opposed to giving money for 3 children to the team and Ratan would chip in with his pocket money.. Mohan did not play for long but he was a good captain.  shekar was a very good player but he took to serious studying after a while..

When Smt Indira Gandhi died, We all stopped playing and discussed for long and all of us felt very depressed and so is the case when Rajiv was assassinated ...  We knew no party, no religion , no preference except cricket.. Everything revolved in and around playing cricket.

No money, no mobile, no FB, no net, No bikes and no nothing ...  Just play cricket and hang around endlessly till 9 pm and come home.....  Wonder what we used to talk apart from movies and cricket and that too for such long..   It was sheer innocence of times which kept all of us very happy...... We had friends who were illeterate, who were aspiring for IAS, IIM and also people who were in poverty and there was never comparisions of any kind.. 

We all wanted to be happy and so we were...  I could call that generation 1983 because till then we did not know what was winning and world cup victory for India , changed us all...... We rejoiced without having TV in all homes...  We felt happy talking and revering for long and long and long...

Meeting and merely recollecting those days, those friends and that innocence and reliving also is so much nostalgic and fulfilling..

Thanks Anees for meeting me today ...  

WHY DO THE POOR HAVE NO CHOICE

Just couple of months ago, the watchman family was changed and new family was employed in our apartments... filmy story but true.. watchman's wife was suspected to have commited a theft in one of the house  and the rightful self pride made them quit this job and i felt slightly sad but encouraged them to leave the place as pride and self respect is more important.. My appreciation grew stronger for them as instead of feeling insecured , they were stong willed.. A good learning for me.. My conclusion is that, they were unnecessarily targeted  and they could not accept their mistake of accusing the innocent or else they would simply have lodged a police complaint. 

everything heals with time...  they settled and so is the new watchman family here in the apartments..  I found new learning in Ramya, the girl about 9 years in the watchman family..  Her attitude of being happy how ever made me touched many times..  My offer to get her education did not take shape as parents were not keen.. Couple of times, i did get irritated when the girl would ask money...  I realized later that, the problem is with me and not her...  why did i expect that , the girl will not have needs and that i gave her comforting signals so that she could ask me...  Luckily i did not get too too rigid and struck a balance and gave money to her few times.

Life was going on , sometimes being able to ignore them and their plight and sometimes getting sensitized and sometimes being able to help.. largely , i did not attempt to change their lives .. Since i did not take the mantle of reforming thier life , it was easy on me..

But one day , they just rang the calling bell and announced that they are leaving to their village the next day.. I was zapped and they did not seem to tell the right reason.. I did not embarrass them by nagging..  Few minutes later Ramya came and said they were leaving in next few minutes..  It hit me badly then.... How vulnerable the lives of poor are? what must be going in thier minds when suddenly they have pack their bag and just leave..  wouldn't they feeling lost and totally insecured..  What will happen to Ramya? would she re discover her joy in that village again?

These are only the questions and may be will never get the answer for them... I felt probably the poor have no choice but just keep getting beaten by circumstances always and remain calm and accept everything...  But can we at least empatize with them and just listen to them and lend supporting hand...  There are plenty such stories around our lives everyday..  Can we make some difference to such lives? can we be helpful? can we understand? can we at least draw happiness thinking we are better off....

Just leave my thoughts here...  Depressing and helplessness is the feeling...