Bloodline

I had read Sydney Sheldon’s ‘Bloodline’ long back when I was graduating from Lucknow and was completely awestruck by its story, characters and the way the story unfolds. It was an experience nothing less than watching a very well made thriller movie.  I liked the book so much that it is imprinted on my mind even today.  After so many years, still in my mind, Rhys Williams (one of the main characters) is the biggest fictional hero I have ever know through books or movies. (Hmm..or it would be Michael Carleone in Coppola’s Godfather).  I also remember other main characters.

It was a story of a family which owns a drug company. The head of the company is Sam Roffe who has been killed in an accident. He has only one daughter, Elizabeth, as a successor who is very young and there is Rhys Williams, the most trusted man of Sam Roffe , a self made man.

On investigation it was found that it was not merely an accident but a planned murder. There are many people in Roffe clan who are beneficiaries and each one of them has his/her story.. and in personal front they all are in the situation that they want huge money. They are very desperate in wanting the company to be sold off.

After Sam’s death company went through crisis and banks refused to give money on considering next president to be from the family..because banks know they are not good and Elizabeth is too young and new to run the company. Elizabeth got to know one thing that banks can give money only if company goes in the hand of one person...And that was Rhys Williamms.

 It was very interesting to read how Elizabeth saves her company and her life. And who is the main culprit who killed her father and trying to kill her also.

But the most important part of the book, to me, was the story of the man who build this company, the great grandfather of Sam Roffe and how he build the company…Awesome.

Needless to say I had read it in start to finish.

The thing which makes me to write this post is that I always wanted to see this story on screen. I always felt that this book has tremendous scope to be adopted as the screenplay and it would be a blockbuster.

Recently I read that a film on this book with the same name featuring Aundre Hepburn, had been made and released in seventies. It is known as a poorly made movie and a complete disaster. Knowing this I decided not to diminish my love and memories of 'Bloodline'....so, not going for it.

O'darling ye hai India

Once again our cricket team's tail-ender batsmen proved themselves for what they are infamously known. In the 5th one-day international match of the series against Australia,they were on “Tu Chal – Main Aaya” track after the fall of Tendulkar’s wicket. And some of our anti-Tendulkar cricket lovers got a chance to blame Tendulkar for the defeat. But for me it was his best inning I have seen so far. However we loose the game, it was a great chase by our side.

Next morning came with another bad news. Prabhash Joshi, veteran hindi journalist ( a cricket lover also) died in a heart attack the same night India lost the exciting 5th one-day match. I have heard and seen him many times on television (and radio) and liked his style of remarking the issues and situation. You could feel, by listening to him, that how much understanding and experience this man had about our country and our politics.

And one thing that distressed me for a long period was a TV chat show I watched recently, in which the host was talking to some victims of Anti-Sikh riot occurred in the country (mainly in delhi) after the murder of Indira Gandh by her Sikh bodyguards on 31Oct, 1984. I was completely agreed when a victim said why people called it riots. In riot there would be losses on both sides to some extent but here 3000 Sikhs including children brutally murdered by mob. Mob which was roaming around the streets of delhi without any fear from cops and government.

It was hard to listen to these victim’s stories. They were telling that how their family members were burnt alive in front of their eyes. Many families had lost not one, not two but dozens of their members and relatives in this massacre. There were families where no male member had survived after this assassination. Still they are seeking justice.

On seeing the program on TV, and feeling their pain, losses and justified anger on our authorities, it was not easy for me to control tears.
How easily we can remove our fake socially cultured and conditioned mask from our faces and become an animal. And if you are a part of a mob of people (animal), it is easy to carry out your cruelty because a mob has no face, no identity but has power.

Man with magical words

Gulzar and Vishal Bharaddwaj combination has given us some very good songs earlier. Now they are back with a bang. Their movie 'Kaminey' is coming. Its music already a hit. No I'm not giving a review, i only want to write something about Gulzar saab.

Bachpan se unke gaane sune hain, tab bhi kuch samajh mein nahi aata tha, aaj bhi zyada kuch samajh mein nahi aata

But i always love his poetry, his unusual words, his imagination and his similies and metaphors. You can identify a gulzar song by its lyrics.

Aapne chaddi pehne phool khilaya hai aur jigar se beedi bhi jalaya hai. Aap baaton mein kimam ki khushbu aur ankhon mein mahakti khushbu dekh sakte hain. Zari wale neele aasman ke tale jai ho aap hi kar sakte hain.

Songs of Kaminey also have his mark and signature.
Yahan kabhi wo 'dil nichodhte' hain, kabhi 'gullak phodte' hain, kabhi 'pipal ke niche gilahri ke jhoote matar' khilate hain."

My favorite in Kaminey is the title track, sung by Vishal himself. In this song he says-

"jiska bhi chehra cheela, under se aur nikla
masoom sa kabutar, naacha to mor nikla
kabhi hum kaminey nikle, kabhi dusre kaminey".

...Brilliant.

Everything is fine but...

Life is difficult in these days. Temperature is getting higher due to lack of monsoon and so much humidity wrings streams of sweat from body. This is also a disastrous situation for our farmers, specially those poor farmers who solely depend on rain to sow and grow their crops. There was a heart wrenching story in our English short story book in 12th named 'Drought'. This was about a poor former, his daughter and his bull and how they suffer from drought. This story comes to my mind every time i hear a word like 'Sukha', 'Akaal' etc. Prices of essential commodities like vegetables, fruits, pulses are too high to push more sweats.

And now this swine flu terror. News of people dying from this flu have been coming everyday and panic is rising among people. No death has been reported yet in Delhi but many cases have been reported with positive diagnosis of H1N1 virus. I am thinking of buying a N95 mask which is said to be good to protect you from virus.

Hail Federer....

He made it. Now its official, Roger Federer is the greatest grand slam player in tennis history with 15 grand slam titals. He surpassed Pete Samprass by defeating Andy Roddick in Wimbledon 2009 final yesterday with 5-7,7-6,7-6,16-14 win. And what a final it was. It was 4 hours 15 mins long battle between two greats with no one wanted to give up. The final set strecthed to 95 minutes and Roger succeeded to keep his nerve. But hats off to Roddick. It was a very close encounter and Roddick was as good as Federer but as Federer said he was on lucky side. Roddick won the heart of the crowd and got a big applaud.
Surprisingly after the win Federer did not cry this time as i was expecting.

Weird traffic safety sign

“Kutta bhi bina wajah nahi bhaunkta…. horn mat bajaiye”
(Even a dog don’t bark without a reason…don’t honk)

This is what I have seen written on traffic safety signs on streets of delhi as an appeal to motorists to stop honking.
When I first saw it, I felt uncomfortable with these lines. Though it is for people safety, it's in a uncivilized manner.....or we don’t listen unless it is said weirdly.

Remembering R D Burman on his birthday

Some 14-15 years back, on a sunday morning I was sitting in a barbershop for a haircut. Suddenly a cassette player, which was On but silent due to power outage, starts to play a beautiful guitar tune that leads to a melodious duet. The song was so melodious and refreshing that it hold me completely for a while. That song was 'Chura Liya hai tumne jo..' from 'Yadon ki Barat' and was composed by R.D. Burman aka Pancham. Later on, as I got to know more and more about his compositions, he became my favorite. It was his music to which I connect and understand the most.
He was the only child of legendary S.D. Burman. He started to assist him at very early age. It is said that many tunes that credited to his father was actually composed by R.D. Like "Roop tera mastana" from 'Aradhna'. His first hit movie was Vijay Anand's 'Teesri Manzil'. It brought him the fame and success. All the songs of this movie are like gems, like 'o haseena', 'o mere sona re', 'tumne mujhe dekha', 'diwana mujh sa nahi'. Besides being a great composer he was also a very good mouth organ player. He played the instrument in some of his father's songs and also for some other music directors. Listen 'Hai apna dil to awara','Koi jab rah na paye' from 'Dosti' and 'Ye dosti' from Sholay. He was also unparallel in giving background music (remember 'Sholay'). He was such a talent that was ahead of his times.
He was nominated 16 times for filmfare but got only 3. Sadly this man had passed through a low phase in the last years of his life. Some big projects, which he was supposed to have first, were given to others. He was hurt and dejected by some of his friends and industry-wallas.
His work got more admiration after his demise. (Proof that he was ahead of his time)

Someone has written about him on a website:

"He was generationless music composer. Audience belonging to any age and era can enjoy his music. On one hand he created the music which could represent the those days generation and on other hand he carried whole generation to the height of music. He defeated everyone in terms of versatility. He was Kishor Kumar in that sense. RD’s predecessors took care of purity and many remained devoted to Indian classical music and instruments only. RD did not feel any hitch in using his knowledge of western classical and Jazz.”

There are many favorites but some are:
Tu tu hai wohi (Yeh wada raha)
Kya yahi pyar hai (Rocky)
Panna ki tamanna hai (Heera-Panna)
Paas aao na (Sagar)
Mehbooba-mehbooba (Sholay)
Tumne mujhe dekha (Teesri Manzil)
Tere bina jiya jaye na (Ghar)
Kuch na kaho (1942 - a love story)
Roz-roz ankhon tale (Jeeva)
Kahin karti hogi wo mera intezar (Phir kab milogi)