Musing Reminisce

’Dekho dekho dekho Baaiskop dekho Dilli kaa kutub Minaar dekho Bambai sahar ki Bahaar dekho Ye aagare kaa Hai taajamahal Ghar baithe sara Sasaar dekho Paisaa pheko Tamasha dekho’ The sweet melodious voice of Nayana floated in the air as she attracted the kids and adults to the roadshow. Though the lyrics promised to show a very vibrant world she could not see. She had lost her vision four years back. They had left this incident with the understanding that it was the harsh will of God.  Unknown to them it was a condition that was temporary and could be rectified by treatment. Aged just 12 she accompanied her dad Appu in the day to day turmoil of survival. Having lost her mother to an unknown disease when she was a baby it was one among a long list of tragedies and downturns in their life.  Her dad singly and tenderly cared for her and brought her up.  He was her eyes and vision. A nomad with no roots tied down, Appu had landed in ’Mayanagri’ Bombay when Nayana (after losin...

  He was     ’Down to Earth’ His name was ... Franky? No No Sebastian No Goldy, Soldy? No It was Anthony. Anthony Gonsalves. Oh yes Anthony Gonsalves.                                            ------///------ Anthony lived in a bungalow in Love Lane in Mazagaon. You will point out, ”I am sure his house number was 420” I will say, ”Yes, how did you guess. You are spot-on. His bungalow number was 420” Laughing out loud you will point out ”Song in Amar Akbar Anthony -- My name is Anthony Gonsalves...... Rup Mahal, Prem Gali, Kholi number 420” I will reply, ”Excuse me, please!! -- You are wrong. This movie by Manmohan Desai with a song written by Anand Bakshi was released in 1977. My story about Anthony Gonsalves was from early 1960. No resemblance to the Amitabh character. My Anthony was a Baker.” Let's go back in time and take a tonga ride to Love Lane in Mazagaon....

  ‘NAHI--’ To object to what was befalling him the dialogue by the evil villain blasted out from the stereophonic speakers as the 70 mm cinemascope film rolled on the large screen. The   climax scene of a handless Thakur Baldev Singh taking revenge on Gabbar Singh in SHOLAY was on. In a guttural emotional voice, Thakur was insisting on ’Yeh haath humko de de Gabbar’ as he squashed the villain's hand with his special spiked shoes. In a pleading tone, Gabbar was replying - NAHI   Gabbar Singh had just a few moments back triumphantly proclaimed. ‘Tera haath tho pehle se kaat kar phek chukha hu’ (I have already cut off and thrown away your hands) To which the gallant ex-police officer had retorted ‘Saanp ko haath se nahi ... pairon se kuchla jaata hai’ (snakes are squashed not by hands ... but by legs) Taken aback by the ex Inspectors way who was taking ‘eye for an eye’  revenge  - in this case, a ‘hand for a hand’, Gabbar Singh watched agape as Thakur revealed his ...

12th MARCH 1993 The vehicle crawled through the stop-start motion on the Bombay roads. This afternoon in March was no different from other weekdays on the roads of Bombay. Traffic was chock-a- block. The bumper to bumper situations stressed out the driver. Abusive words spewed out from his mouth. His anger and frustration being exhibited by his banging of the steering wheels with open palms of both hands. He had an agenda. He had to reach the address on time. He had to stay undetected  and had to enact his getaway smoothly. He was sure the operation would be a success. After all a lot of planning had gone behind it. This act would be a slapping reply to the perpetrators.                                           ------//----- February 1993   Hariram felt cheated. He could not believe that he had been robbed of his lifelong savings and possessions in daylight. He h...