Sunday, 30 October 2011

F1...Bag of GOODies and BADies

Three cheers for Jaypee Infrastructure, Airtel and our Great India. Finally we have made it into the list of Formula One World Championship calendar. Kudos to Mr Vijay Mallya, Mr Subroto of Sahara. They could finally make India come up in the list of elite F1 championship calendar. This ubiquitous tone is loud enough in every F1 fan in India. All the fanfare will see its peak when 24 drivers from 12 teams will race past one another on the race track of Buddha International Circuit in the sunny afternoon of Sunday, October 30, 2011. Even the poorest ticket would garner more than 2500 bucks, which will fetch you a seat, from where the cars will be visible enough, but the name of the brand will definitely not be. Come Sunday and one can see a choc-a-bloc  Greater Noida.
The valid question to be posed now is ‘whether we need a sport event like F1 in our country?’. The operative word is ‘need’. We can pose similar questions like “do we need cricket or hockey or football?”. Anyone can readily say that India eats Cricket, drinks Cricket and lives on Cricket although it is not our national sport. One can easily guess the craziness of cricket in India from the serious temperament, with which our small kids play gully cricket. The small grocery store bhaiya run out of tennis balls every other day not because we have so many junior Federers in our country but kids prefer softer tennis balls for cricket in gully practice. Coming to the hockey, if you travel to any part of Jharkhand, northern part of Orissa, Punjab, Haryana, you will be happy to see the energy and enthusiasm with which the people are nurturing our national sport there. We have seen the likes of Dhanraj Pilley, Dhyanchand, who have spread the name of India wide and high. Moreover if we intro-spect what our country people really play, then kabaddi, gilli danda will be more meaningful for those people rather than some alien F1 race. Even cricket, football, hockey really does justice to the high population of India as all these games involve at least 2 teams with more than one player in each team. Above all these, F1 involves the state of art grids, pits and above all the stadium with great stands. This time it made Indian firm Jaypee to invest around $400 million only for the tracks and stadium.
If we take example of developed countries like US we can at least learn the meaning of prioritization. The US used to hold F1 race till 2009 in Metrapolis till they were hit by recession. Then they did not find F1 to make any positive financial sense for their country. So they stopped hosting such an event. It would be definitely wrong to compare the strategies of so different countries. The ultimate intent of Indian Govt. for allowing to host such an event is to create revenues out of its tourism section, which will leave no stone unturned to appease such a cramming crowd. But what we forget here is that, we are still under the section of categorical warning due to concurrent terrorist activities and misconduct towards tourists. Why people will flock to a place, where scavengers are ready to take on their prey. Moreover, our south asian counterpart has a marvelous Sepang F1 track, where cars pelt along during the night with the flood light. The tickets there cost around half the Indian track prices as the track was built with government assistance.
So it’s high time, these private players should concentrate in improving the basic infrastructure of our present sports events. I won’t blame the private companies for such a step-motherly attitude towards the home grown sport events. Rather it is complacency in part of our sports authority people, who could not attract the investments in their favour. It’s high time, that we should take the cue of the sponsors of such events. They are ready to invest in our sports, but we should be able to show them our commitment, dedication. Until unless we come up with some real enthusiasm, commitment and after all innovation in our traditional sport, the kabaddi, hockey are soon going to be games of the past glory.

A tribute to the mAster and His mAsterpiece


In the morning of 10th day of October, India lost one of its priceless gems in the world of music. His  sonorous voice not only enthralled the hearts of many, but also ushered in a sea of changes in the then Indian Gazal world. The gazal maestro Jagjit Singh, the voice behind the all-time hit melodies like “hothon se chulo tum”, “tum itna jo muskura rahe ho”, “kal chaudvi ki chand thi”, “aisi ankhen nahin dekhi”, “yaad aaonga” merged in eternal peace for ever. His sudden demise has left many awestruck and it was hard to believe as he was popularly known as a very strong willed person.
His soulful offerings like “baat niklegi toh”, “kiska chehra ab mein dekhoon”, “chitthi na koi san desh” , “hoshwalon ko khabar kya” are still hummed by many. He has sung so many soul-stirring melodies with his beautiful wife Chitra. He revived the era of Ghazal during the 80s, when the western music started to enter into Indian music. So qualitative music had faced a lot of struggle to come out ot the purview of public. People started to realize that untill unless the Gazal is subjected to certain changes, it will be hard to retain the its existence among the listeners. But Jagjitji, with all his sadhna and deep bond with music could bring in subtle changes, exactly what listeners wanted. He could blend the modern beats with traditional indian instruments and vice versa. For all his renderings, he was awarded the third highest civilian award the Padma Bhusan in 2003.
Someone has rightly said that it is really indeed difficult to pay tribute to a great personality. They have so many divine attributes that even if we try our best possible way, we are likely to leave some of them in addressing our gratitude. This holy soul came to bollywood like an angel and changed the lives of many. Kumar Sanu was one of them. Jagjitji trusted in his voice and gave a break to this novice singer in his album and gifted him a token of Rs 1500, which the later preserves till the date.
I was quite fortunate to witness one of his live performances at Sirifort Auditorium near AIIMS, Delhi. Before that, I had never been to any of his live shows. Frankly speaking, I had never been to any of the Gazal shows. But the Gazal of Jagjitji really enticed me a lot due to his streaks of blending the new music with the older tunes and vice versa. So it was obvious that I was quite excited to see him singing. Then appeared the divine musician, clad in black dhoti and kurta, on the stage, which was also very much eager to welcome him. The Veena, the tabla, the flute, the guitar and synthesizer were in full mood to be blended into the mellifluous voice of Jagjitji. Then all my wishes were just getting fulfilled just in front of eyes just as the box of Pandora was getting opened up. All his songs were like magic tricks, being cast in front of us. The tunes of “tum itna jo muskura rahe ho”, “mitti da bawa”, “larri lappa”, “chiithi na koi sandesh”,”hoshwalon ko khabar kya”, “kal chaudvi kii raat”, were greeted with whistles and claps. Moreover, the “Khamoshhhhh” man Shatrughan Sinha was also present among the audience. The show, as usual in India, started half an hour late at 7.30 in the evening. But, this music mogul went on and on with his love once he got started. The jugal-bandi between different instruments was so lovely as if each of the instrument was saying something to the other and the other one reverting back. I was having a feeling of tipsy just like I am sitting in the durbar of some ancient King with each of his tune and this feeling was never getting down. I wished like this ecstatic feeling should continue forever and the last number should never come. The melody was so stimulating. When I looked at my watch, I soon realized that even the smallest hand of my watch also does not want to go fast and all it wants is to preserve such a golden moment and to live in that euphoria forever. Everyone was so spellbound by that time that no one could realize that we were all advancing towards midnight with such ease. But the reality soon drew curtains on my hope and I had to return to my place in spite of my unquenched thirst.

I really feel privileged to witness his ‘streak of 70s’. This streak of 70s is synonymous for his tuning 70 this year, all his 70 live shows that he wanted to do this year and his magic spell of 70s. After this live show, I promised never to leave a single show of this great soul. It did not even take much time for me to realize that I took the pledge very late. By that time, the fate had already decided something else for this revered soul. I know the moment, it is going to be published, will be late. I was listening to the “mitti da bawa” and “jaane woh kawnsa desh” from my playlist while writing this conclusion. It was like the nature could also listen to my wishes and soon my tears knew no limits. May be he has left his earthly abode for the better but he could never leave the hearts of millions, who still believe that he will soon appear in some other form and fill the voids in their lives.