Anything goes... Just came by some of our old photos... constant debate on saying 'what is' versus' how we want it to be'... My life's story so far, especially the nice bits that are worth remembering and just sometimes, lessons that are worth learning... And my Veg. Cooking Recipes with videos!:)
Thanks to her office guys who pressured her into joining FB, I finally found
Polly again, our friend from school, who had just about created the profile
with her basic info… Polly is the one who inspired the wildness in me. I met
her in class IV, could not understand or pronounce her name for days. Usually
sitting in first or second benches, my friend Sharda saw the combined Moral
Science class of different sections as an opportunity to goof around a bit. I was
about to learn to laugh from this time onward. So, Sharda would lead me right
upto the last bench near the second door of Class IV-C and sit with the quiet girl
in the corner.
(picture borrowed from the internet)
Sharda prompted, “is se iska naam poochho, na”/ “ask her name”… I did
that for a couple of days, until she got angry, because we could neither
understand nor pronounce it, even when she showed us her copy with the label…
and Sharda would cover her mouth and giggle! One day I was absent and Sharda
made friends with the girl and told me the next day that she is a nice girl and
her nick name is Polly… Not that I know the meaning of it now, but I can
pronounce her official name too… It is written as ‘Sutapa’,
pronounced "Shuthopa". So that was that, and then Sushma had gotten all of us
'abnormal' girls together by class VI...
All of us were uniquely funny, but Polly has also always been amazing.
She used to travel all the way from her home in Hindmotor, a small town in Hooghly
District to our school in Park Lane, near St.Xavier's in Calcutta... Rumour has
it that Polly beat up an older boy of class V who then left school...
It is Polly, who would reach a friend’s doorstep and just as she’s about
to ring the doorbell, would start to pray, “he bhagwaan wo ghar pe nahin ho”/
“God, please don’t let her be at home!”
Captain of Gold House by the time she reached class VII, she is the one
who inspired me to play catch and patiently taught me how to really throw that
tennis ball! With guts to not hide behind a demure façade, during a tiffin
break when Sushma gave Polly’s butt a back kick, beautiful Mrs. D. Basu also
called them both, ‘GoonDi’/ruffian, but with a lot of loveJ
Picture taken at BITM, during Science Exhibit, Class IX. (R-L) Sushma, our best friend Shadma (may she rest in peace) and I.
Between us, we have lost some loved ones. Now is the time to collect all
good wishes for those remaining…
My nieces have heard the story of how when we were in class VIII, Tushar, our
office peon, had told us of the bad-smelling plant… when crushed it smells like S***
and can be used to have some fun. I had gone to school and told my friends
about it. And Polly volunteered to bring it… ‘Although, the plant may not be in
Hindmotor (town near Calcutta) where she lived with her family, her father may be
able to find it from a town nearby’. So she asked uncle to bring it as “Dolly
ka peT kharaab hai”/ “Dolly’s stomach is upset”. May he rest in peace, Uncle
had gone to the other town, brought back the medicinal herb and the next day
Polly had gotten for us a bagful of those infamous leaves.
We had duly crushed the leaves all along the red skirting of our
classroom, disrupted the studies because of wasteful discussions, and in the
end our new and handsome biology teacher had come in and agreed with us, saying
“It is coming from the chemistry lab, shut all the windows.” Many of us
complained of headache by the time he left and ran to open the windows!
(Shadma, Shalini, Sutapa, Sharda, Nauras and Sangeeta. Clicked by me on a trip to Nicco Park, Calcutta, with some of their new friends from College)
Polly invited us every year to her place for her Birthday treat! No
matter when it fell, we tried going on Saturday. My mother used to learn of new
superstitions and was especially skeptical of us doing anything on Saturdays…
She had become extremely protective of us since Papa. I used to regale her with
the stories of Polly’s bravado and get permission! But I do remember her
smiling when she said ‘yes’, (despite her brother’s/ my Mama ji's warnings) after her time
restictions… and I realize (only after seeing Barkha with her kids) how happy my
mother must have been, seeing her shy and quiet kid going on a day’s journey to
Howrah Station, on a local train to another town for a feast and then coming
back with friends. One day we got late, really late… To be continued…
Originally clicked for little Diva, my 6 yr old niece,
who is recovering from fever (at her home in Raipur), I thought I might as well share
these with the rest of my family and friends too…
I see a lot of myself in Diva. I used to fall ill very
often too. And we, as a family were sickly and created a lot of trouble in our
lives, inadvertently.
History need not repeat itself. If the ego wants to
achieve victory, let it do so, but without the grief.
Today, I realize, it is
smarter to lead a happy and healthy life than creating and overcoming huge blockades to our
dreams. And we are learning, that dreams do come true when we allow
ourselves to breathe easy…
Let it be known that happiness is the greatest
achievement that man can attain! Not later (when we have done this, that and more)... but now, right now! :)
The songs that baby Vivek enjoyed dancing to, became huge hits in the country… Those were the days of cassette players… Although, we still had record players at home, old and new… Papa loved old melodious songs and would also bring the latest Hindi film music… (he got some cassettes taped with old songs and numbered them all; a cousin of ours had been asked to make an index in a diary, when he came on holiday!:D) Baby Vivek loved dancing to ABBA's 'voulez vous', which was played even by the cousins who were supposed to be ‘at war’; yes, around that time, we had a ‘baTwaara’, an official separation from the joint family... Tough time for all, but the baby provided respite.
Seen here, baby Vivek on Papa's shoulder, clicked by little Barkha, using Papa's polaroid.
I think this was on 'Holi'...
Anyway, as we got older, Kaalichanran’s dialogue tape was our favourite for the longest of time until it got damaged and then a new one was brought.
We learned from our neighbours and then my father also rented a video player and cassettes for the movie marathons a few times. Soon enough, we bought our own VCP. The cassette-walas used to come door-to-door and rent out movies in the building.
Once, there was heavy water-logging in Calcutta, due to incessant rains for 3 days. We had people pouring in from different corners in the neighbourhood whom we only knew by name or face, “7H mein zaroor milega”/ ‘you will definitely get something at 7H’ (our flat)… They were looking to borrow movies!
In the meantime, upon doctor’s advice, our father decided to forgo the exhaustive construction business and got into movie exhibition after building a Cinema Hall in ‘86… (Which by the way, he wanted our mother to inaugurate… But she suffered a heart attack so some minister must have been called… Anyway, our father passed away in ’88; the business was in a different city and finished by the time we grew up.)
All said and done, as a family, we were addicted to films.
So, Vivek had decided he wanted to be a director, by the time he was 6 or 7 years old… I suggested, “jab tum film banaoge, toh hum tumhaari film mein dialogue likhenge”/ ‘when you make a film, I shall write dialogue for it.’ (There was no concept of screenplay, being separate, at that point) And his reply was, “pehle hum toh film banaayein”/ ‘let me get down to making my film first’…
And without him being too interested, there seemed no point in pursuing that dream… it was only because we had such fun doing our improvisations together. Soon enough, the lure of the computers took me away to a more feasible line of career. And Vivek watched more movies, (at home and with Barkha, our elder sister who took him to watch movies in theatre); and read up on films and so many varied subjects…
(Seen here, Vivek getting into Barkha's solo photo time. Picture, most probably taken at Macau, during a family holiday)
As we grew older and busier (me with studies and he with friends), I missed having that fun with my baby brother, and dreamt of perhaps studying together sometime… But I used to think, ‘will I fail for four years?' as I am that much older. But it did happen... When I was done with my IT stint and we had shifted to Lucknow, we decided to pursue courses at a Media Institute. Vivek wanted to learn the process that Actors undergo, so that he as a Director could get through to them. I wanted to learn Scriptwriting. But it so happened, that there were very few students, so we all had combined classes taught by experts. And yes, we jumped with joy together when our favourite teacher taught!
(Vivek, clicked by Barkha at our MiThu didi's tea garden in Darjeeling)
A few years ago when I reminded Vivek of his reaction to my proposition, he replied, "us time pe hum Javed Akhtar se likhwaane ka sochte the... humko pata nahin tha tum kaisa likhti ho"/ 'At that point, I used to think about getting Javed Akhtar (sa'ab) to write for me; I did not know if you could write..." Now, of course, he tells me to write for him, but he is not allowed to pressure (while I finish a script for my friend). We have managed to do some corporate film work together in Lucknow and Delhi. Both Barkha and Vivek end up adding a lot of value to my fictional radio stories that are currently available on youtube.
So, Vivek has been working in Mumbai since 2002, on adfilms, corporate fims, feature films, etc… In 2011, he landed himself a Creative Head’s job at a TV production house. They were about to leave for an outdoor shoot on a different serial and asked him if he was ready to do some extra work. So, he went with them to Switzerland! He assisted the Director, did the Creative Director's work, production work and also acted… Here’s a clip. He said, he felt like such a lech, asking someone to bring his wife, so many times…:D He appears from around 2:26 until 2:55, and he looks pretty decent, don't you think?
He never smoked. This was just for the photo, I guess:D He was very fond of the movies and might have even harbored some ambitions in that direction, who knows? During his college-India-tour (which happened during his Civil Engineering years, after 2 years of studying medicine, as the family had gotten into construction and wanted him to join the family business; earlier, he had received some letter to join the armed forces, which my Grandma had burnt:D) he must have seen Jewel Thief more than 12 times, practically in every new city they must have visited. Guide was his favourite, though.
He did like travelling a lot. Here's little Barkha with Mommy and Papa in Mussoorie.
After their marriage, my mom chose most of his clothes and he did full justice to them. But this shirt was gotten by him on his Lion’s club world tour. The photo must have been for my mom’s benefit :D (My mom stayed back as she did not wish to leave baby Vivek to go travel).
A fun-loving person, a thorough gentleman and an avid reader, my father was meticulous and highly disciplined in all manners, right from the way he’d fold the newspaper to the way he’d close the water-tap between brushing (twice daily). Here’s his usual to-the-point postcard.
My paternal uncle (Baba for us all, who saw his family through tough times, now unwell, has his own rags-to-riches story) and my father were hard-working people… Although, Papa took us all out whenever he’d have time… it (taking too much pressure on himself) took its toll; he suffered from depression and underwent treatment also... My brother Vivek feels if our Father had received Osho then, things might have been different. We lost him in ’88.
Anyway, so, we had our happy and sad phases. He had been gifted back to us a couple of times. He made depression fashionable! :D People in different factions of our ‘khaandaan’ started having this intellectuals’ disease… (Nah, life is too precious to depend on anything outside of us but we do need to appreciate now, whatever it is that we regard precious).
We come with our own sets of beliefs and or fears. And we are always right! So, it is all the more important to remember to believe in the power beyond us and also that we are very much an extension of this source energy, which makes everything we focus on, available to us, whenever we allow:)
यह कहना था ढाई साल की बरखा का... क्यूँ ? नहीं पता, बस ज़िद थी... आज भी उसका ऐसा ही है :D जिस चीज़ के पीछे पड़ जाती है... पूरा किये बगैर मानती नहीं है... भगवान की दया है कि अब उसकी प्रायोरिटीज़ सही हैं... नहीं, हम दोनों ने बड़े हो कर, बहुत खादी के कुर्ते पहने. मम्मी धुलाते-धुलाते थक जातीं थीं... बहुत भारी होते थे, मेड कम्पलेन करती थी... उस पर, रंग भी जाता था, तो मम्मी अलग से भिगवातीं थीं... वो भी बहुत पैशनेट होतीं थीं. हर चीज़ के लिये... मतलब जब तक शरीर साथ देता था... उसके बाद पूर्वजों से पूजा-पाठ के कर्म-काण्ड के लिये प्रार्थना होती थी, ‘सही’ काम कराने के लिये... काम हो जाता था... तो हार मान लेतीं थीं, “करण वारो ऊव्हो”...
खैर, यह तसवीर है, बरखा के उसी मसूरी ट्रिप की... मम्मी, पापा के साथ... और इस समय, खानदान भर की चहेती बरखा, एक बढ़िया ‘होम-मेकर’ का रोल निभाने में पूरे पैशन से जुटी हुई है... उसके घर-वाले भी उतने ही ज़िद्दी हैं :D
जा रहे हैं आज शाम मेडिटेशन के लिये, सोचने लग गये, कि स्क्रिप्ट में कितना काम बाकी है, पर काम भी तो ईमानदारी और प्रेम से ही होना चाहिये न (नहीं तो कितनी लाईने काटनी पर गईं)... जो है, (सामने) वही पर्पस हो तो? यही तो ओशो कहते हैं, यही शायद गीता में भी लिखा है? मतलब, कभी-कभी आप दूर की सोचते हैं और जो सामने है, वह चूँकि पहले का सोचा हुआ था, अब सामने आया है, तो यही, इस समय ‘डेस्टिनी’ है... है ना? इस समय भले ही फ्रिव्लस् लगे, जी तो आप लाइट-हार्टेड दिनों के लिये ही रहे हैं... स्ट्रगल तो आप महान बनने के लिये करते हैं, दूसरों की देखा-देखी... मज़े में रहेंगे तो शायद मज़े से काम हो भी जाये... योग...
To submit to what is, in this moment is the work… rest will happen through me or rather, my body governed by source energy, when I allow it.
तो ऐसा है, कि रात के लिये भी इडली-सांभर बन रहा है... कपड़े धुल गये हैं... सर में दर्द तो कर लिया, पर सही हो जायेगा... नहा लेंगे, खा लेंगे, फिर मज़े से जाया जायेगा
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