Wah Ustad; Wah Tansen of the 20th Century

Like so many others, I like music right from my childhood days. It’s a different story that I cannot sing. But any melodious tune captivates me as much today as it was fifty years back. We had a gramophone at home and a good part of my younger days was spent on winding the key and listening to the 2 boxful of records of the 1950s over and over again. Unfortunately the boxes did not have any of those old Hindi tunes of which I am fond of so much even today. Those I picked up from the radio later. I still remember the first two Hindi film songs which were blared on the Durga Puja microphones at 4 am in 1961 or 1962. The first one was Rafi’s ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’ (which I later learned was from the film Kala Bazar when I saw the film at the night show at a cinema hall in Bistupur, Jamshedpur during my Industrial Training days in 1978). The second one was ‘Hai Apna Dil, Awara’ by Hemant Kumar. I still don’t know the film.

The boxes contained some of the oldies of S.D.Burman (whom elders like my father used to refer as ‘Sachin Karta’). Most of the records were Bengali songs. A few Western Music records were also there . I remember

‘Underneath the lantern,

          by the Barrack gate,

Darling I remember,

         How you used to wait?’

This was a German WWII song (called Lili Marlene) which was accepted and sung by the opposition also. I have since got it from Youtube and play it sometimes. There are numerous versions.

http://www.actionext.com/names_v/vera_lynn_lyrics/lili_marlene.html
I was pleasantly surprised when a blind man was playing it on the ferry across the St Lawrence taking us back from the old town in Quebec city in Canada.

Coming back to our gramophone, one tune which I never forget was actually amongst our 78 rpm records. It was not a film song. (Rather the tune was used in a film song much later). Come to think of it – it was a piece of classical music by one of the all time maestros and it was not any of those melodious film songs. It was this thumri – ‘Ka karoon Sajni, Aye na Balam’. You guessed it right. The exponent was:

                          This legend of a man – Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.
 
Somehow, I rank this thumri as the best of all the tunes that I am fond of. And within the song also, I like a particular portion the most. About hundred seconds into the masterpiece, he sings an alaap which simply mesmerizes me every time I hear it. (I think it is called alaap only. From the net I gathered that Alaap is usually sung in Aakaar i.e. without pronouncing any syllables only using the sound "aa" of the vowel.)

http://www.swarganga.org/articles/icmconcepts/icm7.php

Please listen to the thumri by clicking on to the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBkG9s8mG-c

I am so much thankful to youtube for reaching this gem to me. Khan Sahab was a khyal singer. But Some khyal singers took an interest in thumri and sang it their own way, as in the case of Abdul Karim Khan, Nazakat-Salamat Ali Khan, Barkat Ali Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Prabha Atre

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan is a hero for me. I want to share some of his facts with you.

He was born in 1902 at Kasur near Lahore very near to the Border. He died in 1968. He is revered as the greatest interpreter of the Patiala Gharana in the past 100 years. Originally he played the Sarangi. His debut performance in Calcutta in 1938 catapulted him to national fame. He became an Indian citizen in 1958 and was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1962. He was called the Tansen of the 20th century by the music world.

You may go thru the following links and learn more about his music.

Jai Ho!!

http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-music/classical-singers/bade-ghulam-ali.html

http://www.itcsra.org/tribute.asp?id=4

http://www.indianmelody.com/badearticle1.htm

Do you Checklist?

Have you ever heard a Bengali exclaiming ‘Oyi Jaa’? The tone itself will tell you that all of a sudden the guy has remembered something very urgent and important which he/she had forgotten altogether. Today the whole world including the Bengali calls it out as “Oh Shit”.

There are numerous examples daily on this score. Once on our way to Hrishikesh from Delhi, we realized after we crossed Meerut – a good 50 kms away that we had left behind the boiled drinking-water cans at home . There were 4 kids with us. We had to return to get the jerry-cans. I know of a travel agent discovering on reaching the airport that he had left behind his own passport at home. Imagine the condition of the tourists who were to travel with him. He called up his relation to go to his neighbour’s place, collect the keys, get the passport and then ride a bike all the way to Sahar Airport from South Mumbai. The logic – the bike will be able to negotiate the traffic; a car would not.

Then I know of people who’ll remember something just two minutes after leaving the house. And this happens continuously with these people. I just can’t make out why it does not strike them 2 minutes before while leaving the house. I am sure there are theories on the entire spectrum of forgetfulness. You google and you get to see tons of material to go thru.

We are aware that the human brain has tremendous capacity to retain. It can further be improved by mental exercises. But at the end of the day you need to retain the cream and not day to day chores. The question then arises as to what happens to the day to day chores. They are also important. You just can’t deny their existence. So what do we do? Do we have any tool to take help from? Yes- we do have a simple tool – that of making a checklist and following it up properly. Making a checklist will be futile if you do not glance over it when needed. You need to continuously update the checklist also as time passes and the scenario changes.

I am a big supporter of making checklists. I make one at least before we go out on holidays. So far it has given me wonderful results. You just don’t miss out on anything- and you can’t afford to. Example – you buy Eurail tickets on your credit card sitting at home. You don’t carry that particular credit card on the date of your journey. You land up buying a second ticket in the train at the current price. Only the ticket does not help – you need to produce the credit card also for verification. On our journey from Paris to Frankfurt we saw a Frenchman paying thru his nose for not carrying that particular credit card. Maybe he had bought them on someone else’s credit card.

When to start making the checklist?- one day before the event? One month ago? Or one year prior to departure? To me, the process should start as soon an event is conceived and thought of. You are planning a trip to New Zealand- start the process straightaway. Initially you can write down whatever comes to your mind. The ranking can be done later. And there is no fixed auspicious moment. As and when something relating to the trip comes to your mind, just pen it down on the list. Soon you’ll find that the list has already crossed 10 points. I’d prefer to include everything- even the shaving cream etc also. Else at the eleventh hour you’ll find that the existing tube will not last the 15 days of travel. So you’d be buying toothpaste or shaving cream at Cologne or Paris or Christchurch using up the precious foreign exchange you are carrying which was bought paying a hefty commission. It’s your money. The Checklist only smiles at you for not being used. Let me share with you the documents we were carrying for our Western Europe trip this May:

1. Passport

2. Invitation letter as a proof as to where I was heading. At Dublin airport last year, we had a trying time when we could not give any document as to our friend’s address. Finally when Immigration decided to call on our friend’s number (which fortunately I readily had) , I could lay my hands on an application I had made to the Irish Embassy which carried my friend’s references.

3. Tickets booked on line:

Air India

German Rail Pass

Munich to Vienna train, Vienna to Prague Bus, Prague to Dresden train, Hamburg to Copenhagen and back bus, Hamburg to Amsterdam bus, Amsterdam to Paris Bus, Paris to Argentan (Return) train, Paris to Frankfurt train tickets.

4. Hotel reservations at Munich, Berlin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

5. Foreign exchange

Those were the documents. Then we had gifts and other items. The excel sheet carried over to the next page.

The point is a good thought-out checklist leads to a sound plan and program. Most of the avoidable worries are passed on to the checklist. A periodic glance at it leads to a smoother execution. It actually leads you deeper and deeper into the process and your plan becomes more and more robust. Else the ‘Oyi Jaa’ syndrome sets in and a substantial part of the fun time is required to be devoted to frantic phone calls and calls to the Almighty for urgent help.

Atul Gawande, a surgeon in the US has come out with a best seller “The Checklist Manifesto”. It has examples showing how the complex operations of flying an aircraft or doing a surgery on the operation theater make extensive use of the checklist to come out with 100% success.

Please make it a point to visit the net and read about the book. I am sure you’ll buy the book at the next opportunity. The Indian edition is now available here.

http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/07/book-review-checklist-manifesto.html

There are other sites also on the book.

I just cannot help but reproduce the excerpt below from

http://us.macmillan.com/thechecklistmanifesto

Complications reveal the surprising power of the ordinary checklist.
We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies—neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. First introduced decades ago by the U.S. Air Force, checklists have enabled pilots to fly aircraft of mind-boggling sophistication. Now innovative checklists are being adopted in hospitals around the world, helping doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches. Even in the immensely complex world of surgery, a simple ninety-second variant has cut the rate of fatalities by more than a third.


In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds.


An intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference, The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to get things right.

Atul has added life to our simple checklist. I use it for my travel. Now see how the world uses it for flying planes and what not. So what if you are not flying a plane or doing a surgery? You are driving your life and in a few cases others’ lives as well in these complicated days. I am sure you’ll find the CHECKLIST a very friendly and reliable partner.

Long live the Checklist!!

The Hockey Wizard, the Human Eel

You know the hockey wizard – right? Did you know that Dhyan Chand was also known as the Human Eel? That’s how the English press used to call him. I came to know of it only yesterday. For each and every hockey player worth the name Dhyan Chand is the model. He was a towering personality on the Hockey field and did India proud on this sport. Good that he is not alive today. Else the 8-0 and similar other drubbings which we get regularly from the Europeans and the Australians would have failed his heart in any case. Personally I cherish those heydays of Indian Hockey from 1928 to 1966 the most. I played hockey at school and always dreamt higher. (It’s different that nothing happened thereafter on that front). I feel extremely let down in this life of mine by the failure of Indian hockey to rise to the level of the others.

Did you know of his Bengal connections? Born in Allahabad, he joined the army. Thereafter the family shifted to Jhansi. He played for United Provinces. After 1920, hockey was taken off from the Olympics. It was at the insistence of the nascent Indian Hockey federation, that it was reinstated in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. And the group that made it possible for the team to sail to the European continent was not Punjab, not Bombay, not Madras but the Bengal Hockey Association (BHA). Major Burn-Murdoch and Charles Newham were the two key personalities whose keenness to get the Indian hockey team in the Olympic hockey arena made it happen. The selections were held in Calcutta and the final team was selected by these two gentlemen.

India went to mainland Europe via England. A funny development was that seeing the form of the Indian team in the practice matches, England decided to withdraw from the Hockey event in the Olympics. They could not think of being humiliated by India. India could meet England only in 1948 London Olympics after our independence. But by that time the wizard had retired having played in the 1928 (Amsterdam), 1932 (Los Angeles) and 1936 (Berlin) Olympics. He was the captain in the last tourney.

Dhyan Chand was a very shy person. In the army, Subedar Major Bale Tiwari seeing his deft stickwork got him to the hockey field. Being an army man, he was always wary of how he would be taken by the civilians in the team. He would never go to the parties after the victories but would rather be content to listen to the stories of what happened there. The only thing which he would miss out was the cold beer – look at the simplicity of this world conqueror.

Family was a big thing for him. Out of his 5 children, Rajkumar and Ashok Kumar played hockey at Calcutta. Ashok kumar represented the country and scored the all-important goal in the finals to lift the hockey world cup at Kualalampur in 1975. His sibling Roop Singh played alongside him in the 1932 and 1936 Olympics.

There are quite a few stories on the legend.

Some excerpts-

• While playing a hockey game, Major Dhyan Chand was not able to score a goal against the opposition team. After several misses, he argued with the match referee regarding the measurement of the goal post, and amazingly, it was found to not be in conformation with the official width of a goal post (as prescribed under international rules).

• After seeing his prolific play at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler offered Dhyan Chand, a Major in the British Indian Army, German citizenship and an offer to promote him to the rank of a Colonel (which Dhyan Chand subsequently refused).

• "Goal" is the autobiography of Hockey wizard Dhyan Chand published by Sport & Pastime, Chennai, 1952

• Residents of Vienna, Austria honoured him by setting up a statue of him with four hands and four sticks, depicting his control and mastery over the ball.

Dhyan Chand died on December 3, 1979 at the AIIMS, New Delhi, a pauper – a sad end for such a huge personality. Things have somewhat improved now. But still we as a country have not been able to honor and help artistes and sportspersons of our country at their old age. We are so insensitive as a nation to our own countrymen.

Major Dhyan Chand's birthday (August 29) is celebrated as National Sports Day in India. The President gives away the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award on that day. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1956.

What to write?

On this Happy Diwali morning, my eyes opened up at their usual time of 3.30. I knew it was a holiday and thought of catching up on my lost sleep of the week. Sorry – I couldn’t lie like that. So here I am thinking of some topic on which to run my mind and fingers thru. Amazing – I am more at ease typing than taking up a pen and write. How habits change?


What to write? I have been thinking last few days. I thought of sharing some thoughts on the effect of the Internet on mankind. Then there is the topic on my funny behavior of trying to force people to read my blog. I was thinking of the world cup football – definitely one of the most sought after events of the world. Last few days’ research on it reconfirmed me that in 1954 the event took place in Switzerland. Immediately the mental faculties shifted to Switzerland – how has it been able to maintain its status of a neutral country under the most trying circumstances? Then I had thought of writing something on the work I do – something of a training material type, guidance notes. That will be purely work-centered and will definitely not feature on these pages. I am not sure how to proceed with it, although a start has been made already.

So actually there is no dearth of topics. You just have to make your mind wander. And you’ll land up with the wanderer’s tales. Hey- I am getting a second connotation to the word ’WANDERER’. When I started writing the stories under that banner, I had physical journeys in mind. In fact I started with our West Europe trip and thought of penning down travel stories only. Now I can add mental wanderings also to it. The stories I write today encompass life in its entirety. So from now on I’ll be able to explain ‘The Wanderer’s tales’ on a different line as well – Physical and Mental journeys in the Journey of Life. Wonderful!!

Ok – I was saying that you make your mind wander and start your writings. Very easy- right? Not at all for many! Most of us are so caught up with our daily chores and circumstances and our minds have got conditioned in such a way that it is difficult to look beyond, think beyond, let our minds go on a free trip to the Moon, Sun, Venus , under-water, above water, anywhere, everywhere. That must be the only free travel in the world. Any other form of travel would entail a cost in terms of money and effort.

You ask a person to write a letter. In a substantial number of cases, you’ll find that the person will not be able to write at all. He/she will ask you what to write. How to start and so on? Believe me, I am not exaggerating. They’ll find it so hard. And if you insist, chances are that they will go the other way the next time they see you. I’ll give you an example. Once I was trying to sing a song in front of my younger sister. She just could not fathom as to the huge amount of effort that I was making in getting the words and the tune come out of my mouth. She saw how difficult it was for me to sing a song. For singers, songs come just like that.

You have to have an active mind – that is the first requisite for writing. In fact that is the source of every activity. The principle to the second of the seven habits says that mental creation precedes physical creation. Think of a thief/cheat. He/she continuously keeps on improvising on the methodologies. Sirji – what an example! You must be murmuring – the guy couldn’t get a better example? They have to be extremely creative to get their booties. See – the scams. Every scam story will unfold the ingenious ways that were deployed to get the perpetrator his undue share of the pie. Sorry that was a negative example. But that could be turned to more positive examples.

The other requisites are some sort of a command on the language and a flow. People call it a flair for writing. You have to be a story-teller. Regular bouts of story-telling at the coffee table must be helping me in my writings. When added to the regular reading of the Statesman in my younger days and writing paragraphs on any topic for Fr. Jacob to correct in class vi make my background a good concoction for writing stories.

Now tell me – was it on my list of topics – Writing 801 words on what to write? See how I have mastered the art of saying the sweet nothings!! Ha Ha!