From-here-there-everywhere

 ( Continued from the previous post) It is poet Shailendra again for the movie “ Jagte Raho” sung by Mukesh. The poet says “ Zindagi Khwab hai”- Life is a dream. Many of our scriptures also say that this so called life is not a reality but is only a Maya, an illusion, or in other words, a dream. Zindagi Khwab hai, khwab mein,Jhooth kya,aur bhala Sach hai kya. ( Life is a dream, so, does it matter what is false or what is true ?) Well, if the life is truly a dream or Maya, should we really worry about whatever we do is good or bad or whether it is Paap or Punya ?              So he deals it in this way …… ‘ Dil ne humse jo kaha, humne vaisa hi kiya, Phir kabhi fursat se sochenge, bhala   tha ya bura’ (Whatever my heart told me to do ,I did. Was it right or wrong? Let me ponder over it when I have time to spare)   This song was picturised on and superbly played by the veteran actor Motilal. ...

       Of late, whenever I listen to the old Hindi film songs of the 50's, 60's and 70's,I re-discover the magic,beauty and the depth hidden in them. In my younger days, these songs had given me immense listening pleasure but the words did not carry much meaning then. But when I happen to listen to them now, many of them seem to convey profound perspectives on life in very simple terms.   It is not surprising, since they were penned by the great lyricists like Pradeep, Shailendra, Sahir Ludhiyanvi ,Shakil Badayuni, Hasrat Jaipuri, Neeraj, Jan Nissar Akhtar ,Rajinder Krishan,Kaifi Azmi etc.who were eminent poets of Hindi and Urdu. They commanded immense respect in Kavi Sammelans and Mushairas of their times. Think of any theme like life, love,separation, friendship,festivals,war and so on, and you can finds gems composed by them revealing different shades of emotions.   I would like to share some songs with a theme-What is life? How shoul...

The year.... 1964 or 1965. City - Jodhpur I was a student of Electrical Engineering ( 1st/2nd Year). Jodhpur had just got its first own Akashvani low power Radio Transmitter.It had a limited range, just covering the Jodhpur City. We Jodhpur'ians were very excited, treating it as an endorsement to the growing importance of our city. There was a general craze amongst our classmates to hook up a local receiver set to catch this transmission. Not to be left behind, I also bought a few components-a crystal oscillator, a diode, a coil, a variable capacitor and a head phone. It looked almost magical that a motley set of components, when hooked together, could bring the sound into the head phone.   With great alacrity I connected the components.   Nothing happened. Checked the connections, tried changing the polarities, still nothing. Got frustrated and left it. Tried it again in the afternoon.   Same fate. Tried it again in the evening....Heard some crackling ...

CHANDRA It was a great experience to read   'Chandra-A biography of   S Chandrashekhar'. This book was for long on my list of "to read". I did not have any great expectations from a biography as compared to a work of fiction which is likely to be more engaging.   But then, what an experience it was! I do not claim to have read many biographies, but I found this to be a class in itself. Well, I am not going to review it but instead, narrate how it was a revelation to me about many things such as :- 1. The social fabric of the society in the pre independence era in Madras, especially in the traditional Brahmin families. 2.Although bound by such rigid customs, how Chandra's family rose above them.....Even Lalita's (Chandra's wife) grandparents broke all social taboo associated with a child widow in their family.Just remarkable. 3. Psychological influence of Mathematician Ramanujam on the educated youth of that time. 4. How Chandra, in ...