The Asia Cup cricket tournament is on and the Men in Blue are serving their customary fare. Flatter to deceive. Winning their opening outing against arch-rivals Pakistan in a thriller and then just succumbing to them in their next encounter. This does not augur well for the national cricket team in the T 20 WC to be played in Australia in October-November this year. The only positive takeaways have been the return to form of master batsman Virat Kohli and some high adrenaline performances from Hardik Pandya and Surya Kumar Yadav.
Let us set the bar high. Win the Asia Cup to propel the side to win the Major-Down-Under. With our cricketers getting the VVIP treatment both in money terms and fame, should we settle for less? With an abundance of talent, with an amazing bench-strength the National cricket team is underperforming on the biggest stages of all.
Men in Blue 2.0. A lot is expected from the players under the mentorship of Rahul Dravid. But his innings thus far has been a mixed bag. The highs have been the 2-1 ODI win and 2-1 T 20 victory against a resurgent England side in England earlier this year. The down-side was allowing them to draw the Test series 2-2 in the one-off Test. One may add beating the West Indies on their home turf in the ODI 3-0 and T 20 by 4-1. The Windies are a very combative side in the T 20 format. They won the ICC trophies in 2012 and 2016. The loss to South Africa 2-1 in Tests and 3-0 in ODI’s hurts. Remember-Kohli resigned from captaincy after the loss of the Test series. There are Statistics and then there are Impact Stats. Winning matches on SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) tours define the aura for the Indian cricket team. The conditions+ pitches+ opposition take these contests to another level of grit, flair and competition. Plus, plus, plus lifting the ICC World Cup trophies across formats- Tests, ODI’s, T 20’s. These test the nerves and temperament, the skills and adaptability of the best of cricketers. The best that can be said as of now is that the Indian cricket team under Head Coach Dravid is still to find its mojo. Let’s hope that the unit hits top gear soon. A trivia worth sharing- in his 10 month stint thus far Dravid has worked with 7 Indian captains.
Bilateral series wins on Indian turf cannot be discounted. But Indian teams across the last 2 decades and more have stood tall on home pitches. A couple of years back the bombastic coach Shastri hailed the Indian team as the best ever to represent the country. Really?! A reality check is in order per the SENA tours and the big ICC trophies. We lost the Test series 4-1 to England in 2018; ODI 2-1; T 20 2-1. Lost the Test Series to New Zealand 2-0 in 2020. The high point has been the never-say-die Test tour of England in 2021 where India led the Test Series 2-1 with the hosts levelling the series 2-2 earlier this year. And the T 20 away win in Kiwi-land in 2020. Much hype has been created about our 2018-19 victory tour of Australia. To spell out the context. The Aussies were still shamefully coping with the cheating scandal called ‘Sandpapergate’- ball tampering on the South African tour. Their top players Smith and Warner had been suspended for a year. Morale was at a grim low. Players were booed by their own people across all the venues. The Miracle Down Under under Rahane in 2021 is the real thing. The 36 all-out in the First Test. Losing top players to injury. Against All Odds. The rest is history.
World Cup silverware has not adorned BCCI shelves since the Championship trophy of 2013. Losing the Test Championship at Lords to New Zealand in 2021. Exiting the ODI semi-final in England in 2019. Not making it to the knock-out stage at the 2021 T 20 tournament. Let’s hark back to those who wore the Indian cap and colours in the earlier years. Winners of the ICC World Cup in 1983 and 2011. The T 20 WC in 2007. The Champions trophy in 2002 and 2013. Runners up at the ODI WC in 2003 and T 20 in 2014.
Stats can be spun to suit the narrative. Social media can amplify and distort the same. Is the Indian cricket team in the same league as the majestic Windies team of the late 70’s and 80’s? Or the great Australian side under Waugh and Ponting? These teams dominated the game for almost a decade. The Caribbean Calypsos did not lose a series for 10 years and more. Beyond the wins and the silver-ware they influenced and changed how the game of cricket was played. Interestingly, it was India that stopped the Windies juggernaut at Lords ’83 and again India that shattered the Aussie dreams of capturing the Last Frontier in 2001.
Shrug, shrug. In the opinion of many the challenge of the SENA tours and losing out on ICC majors does not seem to matter. After all, India is the centre of gravity of the cricketing world. Are we suffering from the Super Bowl syndrome of American football?! The IPL is the second richest sports league in the world after the English Premier League. Hope that Indian cricket is not affected by the curse of English football. The most followed football league on the planet but no major trophy for the English team since WC 1966. The powers that be and the Influencers of Indian cricket should understand that the fortunes of the IPL are inextricably linked to the fortunes of the Men in Blue.
Let’s look at other sports. The Spanish football team dominated the world of football for 5 years from 2008 to 2012.They won the European Championships in 2008 and 2012 and the World Cup in 2010. The 2010 team is considered by some pundits as the greatest of all time. Now 12 years on, can you remember any marquee names? Possibly one or two in one of the best football squads ever. To quote from one of the experts, “the journey of the treble of trophies was a long time coming for La Roja. After years of near misses and underachievement, Spain’s golden generation-produced largely by Barcelona and Real Madrid- became an unstoppable force.”
Let’s look at individual icons in a team sport. Lionel Messi is right up there in the stratosphere of football all-time greats. Some consider him the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) for his magical skills and abilities on the football field. But what haunted this Superstar was that he had not won any major tournament with the Argentina team. Till the Copa America in 2021. That he propelled his national team to the WC final in 2014 (1-0) loss to Germany or 2 successive Copa America finals in 2015-2016 did not count. At the top levels in international sports- the World Cups, Grand Slams, Continental Championships, Olympics- it’s holding aloft the trophy or wearing the gold medal that matters.
Domination of the game in all 3 formats is the only ticket for the Men in Blue into crickets ‘Immortal Hall of Fame.’ As ardent well-wishers we hope that the time starts now and continues for a few years on.
Is the popularity of the Indian Premier cricket League going down? The tell-tale signs are all around. Even 2 or 3 years ago, millions of fans were glued to the TV whenever their favourite player or team was in action. The next day, the match was the talking point amongst friends and in colleges and offices. Bars and Pubs were packed during key IPL fixtures for the high of the collective sporting spectacle experience. Such was the draw of the tournament that no major film was released during this period. Going to the stadium to watch a game with family and friends was an event to celebrate and to revel in through multiple shared selfies. Now, all that buzz and chatter has gone. Even many devout cricket followers are not clued in to which teams played the previous night. Those animated discussions have died down. The charm of the game has in a sense worn off.
In the first week of IPL 2022, TV viewership (as per BARC) dropped from 267 million to 229 million. The second week took the decline to 33%. The huge success story of the IPL is wrapped around TRP and TV viewership. Now there is a growing concern amongst advertisers and sports marketing professionals about the monetisation potential of this 2 month-long tournament. Public interest is waning; eyeball counts have dropped. But the BCCI lives in a bubble. From 2023-27, the Board is seeking to double the media rights from Rs 16,500 crs to Rs 33,000 crores. The same over-the-top spirit persuaded the RPG Goenka group to bid more than Rs 7000 crs to get the rights for the new franchise-Lucknow Super Giants. Dr Goenka believes that LSG will be worth more than $ 2 billion in just 2 years. I say, talk about hitting the ball out of the park!!!!!! The CVC Capitals won the rights for the Ahmedabad based Gujarat Titans by shelling out a mammoth Rs 5625 crs. Look at even the supporting cast of players. Pruthvi Shaw, who has not yet proved to be an Impact player or crowd-puller has been retained by DC for Rs 7.5 crs. Venkatesh Iyer (KKR) and Abdul Samad (SRH) who were auctioned for Rs 20 lakhs just a year back have moved into the Rs 8 crs and Rs 4 crs zone, I suppose on the basis of potential?! Hard-nosed businessmen seem to have been bowled over by the allure of cricket.
Some of the stakeholders and pundits have shrugged off this slump as a temporary phase. The heat wave and the exam season have not helped matters. Scheduling of afternoon matches has been a blunder. The blip is because favoured teams like CSK and MI have been underperforming; superstars like Virat Kohli, MSD and Rohit Sharma are having a lean patch. And all the matches are being played out in Mumbai, Pune and finally in Ahmedabad. The local fan fervour is missing. Point taken.
But are we missing the willow wood for the trees? Is there an overdose of cricket in India?? The IPL now has 10 teams-74 matches- over 65 days. The Indian cricket team has a busy schedule and tours across the 3 formats. So the volume of cricket served to the Indian cricket fan is very heavy. Is this overdose of cricket not being digested?! Furthermore, the fare served in the Premier League has become monotonous and predictable. Intensity and competitiveness are lacking. Those tight, edge-of-the-seat matches have become rare. Rather than hard-fought team contests with flashes of brilliance and super skills, the tournament has become more about PR and hype and a glamour circus. The loyal and even frenzied following enjoyed by a Manchester United or Arsenal in the EPL or Barcelona and Real Madrid in the La Liga have been built up over decades. There is a glorious history and tradition attached to the clubs with classic rivalries and the marquee players. The IPL is only 15 years old. Most of the viewership has not been built around the teams but around the celebrity personas of King Kohli and Thala MSD. Players like Chris Gayle, ABD or Rashid Khan have added to the TRP ratings. But the celebrations or disappointment is not acute or heartfelt as most fans are not really invested in any team. For instance, the vociferous support on social media for RCB to win the trophy for the first time is driven largely by the cult of Kohli. But I do hope that the Bengaluru team wins. If only to see Virat Kohli back with match-winning knocks in India colors.
It is high time that the format be changed to make the game more interesting. Commentator Aakash Chopra has come out with some game-changing ideas. The key one being that a team winning the game comprehensively within 10 overs should get bonus points. This will keep the competition simmering till late into the league matches phase as an X factor. Another oft-heard recommendation is the inclusion of 5 foreign players in the playing XI to boost the standard and quality of the cricket. Likewise only the most experienced and best umpires should take the field in this elite league, helped and supported by the best solutions technology has to offer. Another interesting idea is that of a strategic substitute. A batter or bowler can voluntarily retire to make way for a substitute from the dug-out who can best deliver in that game situation with the rider that this be a one-off option with the substitute player having not yet actively played in the match.
It is also high time that the powers that be introduced the football yellow and red card practice in this tournament. The yellow card as a caution or warning to a cricketer who sledges, curses and abuses, throws tantrums or wastes time or cheats. The red card to evict a crass player who has really crossed the line of acceptable behaviour. With no substitution allowed and the guilty being benched for the next match also and with a punitive monetary deterrent in place. The celebrity bubble-dom of IPL cricket has taken its toll on good sportsmanship which once enhanced the charm and dignity of the game of cricket. The raw aggression of Kohli has found many, many admirers amongst his legion of fans but has also rubbed off on many of our younger stars. In IPL 2022 itself, we have seen a seething Pant send his coach Pravin Amre onto the field to protest an umpiring call while possibly gesturing to his batters to come back; KL Rahul’s consistent breaches of fair play as captain; Hardik Pandya’s gaalis at his own senior team-mate Shami; most disappointingly Rohit Sharma’s expansion of his coarse vocabulary even as he fails to score runs. The players need to be held to a higher standard. The blatant commercialisation of the IPL and its vacuous culture has to be reined in. Perhaps with cricket marketed as entertainment, the IPL is going the WWE way. Unfortunately, our TV experts and even well-known ex-cricketers have morphed into cheerleaders and PR spin masters as they have jumped onto the gravy train. The game of cricket is the loser. An interesting aside is that in a recent of his never-ending interviews ex-coach Shastri declared that he had moulded the Indian cricket team to match the relentless aggression of the Australians, “If the other sledged, give back to him threefold. Twice in your own language and once in English.” The young stars are certainly making their mentor proud. Wonder what ‘Indiranagar ka goonda’ thinks about all this.
The dark side of the tournament is fairly recent history. Match-fixing and spot-fixing, which resulted in CSK and RR being banned for 2 years. But the biggies involved got away without even a slap on the wrist. The danger lurks around the corner in the form of the underworld betting and drug syndicates. The IPL is very vulnerable and another major fixing scandal can take down the entire IPL edifice. Even the most passionate Indian cricket followers will lose their faith in the game. This is one area where the administrators and security people cannot take their eyes off the ball. The Sharjah tournament of the 90’s was controlled by the D Company with Asif Iqbal, the Pakistani cricketer, as the flagbearer.
Indian and world cricket have certainly benefitted manifold from this cash-rich league. The fitness of cricketers is now front and centre and this is clearly seen in the fielding agility and the athleticism on the cricket field. It will be befitting if this third dimension of the game- fielding- is given more prominence through the IPL cameras. With our youngsters rubbing shoulders with foreign greats, their confidence levels and cricketing skills have primed up. Plus the opportunities that the tournament has opened up for talented aspirants from across the country- remember Bumrah was spotted by MI scouts and nurtured by the franchise before he became India’s strike bowler. Then there is the heart–warming story about how it has helped put Afghan cricket on the world map.
India is at the epicentre of global cricket with BCCI being the richest cricket body. But the Board may well be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. The Indian passion for cricket has been ignited and fuelled over generations by the achievements of the national cricket team. The fortunes of the IPL is irrevocably tied to the performance of the Men in Blue. Over the last many years, the team has flattered to deceive at the majors. The entire focus and planning should be on winning the trophies at the ICC tournaments across formats and being triumphant on the SENA tours. Our best players should be rested to avoid the fatigue and burn-out of non-stop cricket. There should be acclimatized- warm-up matches in the run-up to an important overseas series. The Miracle Down Under with Rahane at the helm was savoured and feted by cricket followers all over the country and served as a humongous boost for the game. The Indian cricket fan will have no patience or regard for get-rich-quick IPL players if they do not give their all for the India cap and flag. Sincerely hope that the cricket administrators, selectors, players and pundits see beyond the glitter and the money; that they value and respect and appreciate what the game of cricket really means to the people of this vast land.
Bollywood has long been considered as the Big Brother of the Indian film industry. Today, the Mumbai based film world is synonymous with glitz and glamour; big money and scandals; pan-India reach and an expanding global footprint; some hits and many more misses; a well-oiled PR machinery to spin the make-believe; and of course the mellifluous appeal of Hindi film music and songs.
Indian cinema, in other languages, were dubbed as Regional cinema. Yes, there was recognition and awareness about the Titans- MGR and Sivaji Ganesan from the Tamil film world, NTR and ANR from Andhra Pradesh, Kannada film star Dr Rajkumar and the prolific Prem Nazir from the State of Kerala. The last named holds the Guinness Book record for playing the lead in 520 films. But all these legends did not have an All India audience for their movies.
The other X factor or dimension was that Raj Kapoor with his ‘Laal Topi Russi’ (from the song Mera Joota Hai Japani– Shree 420) had won a lot of hearts in the erstwhile Soviet Union and China. Amitabh Bachchan wowed audiences across the Middle East and South East Asia and clicked with the Indian diaspora everywhere. But the Bollywood media did not acknowledge the fact that the Rajnikanth phenomenon was not confined to Southern India but had spread to Japan- with the release of his film Muthu in 1998- or as the Japanese called it – Odura Maharaja or Dancing Maharaja.
But now the landscape has dramatically changed. By 2020, the combined revenues of the South Indian film industry had surpassed the collections of the Hindi film industry, with Tollywood (Telugu) and Kollywood (Tamil) leading the pack. The game changer has been the release of Baahubali –the Beginning in 2015 and Baahubali 2 in 2017. Part 1 grossed Rs 650 crs at the global BO and the Part 2 collected a staggering 1810 crs. Pipped at the post by only Dangal with Rs 2024 crs, with 60% coming from the China market. But in the Indian market Baahubali 2 The Conclusion reigns supreme at the cash counters with a net lifetime collection of Rs 510 crs. It also registered the highest estimated footfall for any film in India since Sholay in 1975. The ambition, scale and sheer imagination of these S S Rajamouli movies are in sync with the title. They delved into both the Indian tradition and the Epics and hence resonated across the country. Even those generally not interested in the movies flocked to the theatres to soak in the experience. Baahubali 1 & 2 did not feature any major Bollywood star but won a pan India audience. Instead Prabhas, Anushka Shetty and the character called Kattappa became household names. Even more significantly, the Baahubali mania earned respect for South Indian film makers and the technicians.
Other movie makers from the Regions stepped in to break the mould. Shankar’s Tamil sci-fi opus 2.0 was made at a budget of Rs 400 crs, probably the most expensive Indian film ever. KGF cost Rs 80 crs to make and market, unheard of for a Kannada film. The recent super-hit Telugu film Pushpa The Rise worked on a budget of Rs 180 crs. All these producers and financiers have shattered the local barriers and dreamt on an All India and even global scale. All the films have been released, dubbed in 3-4 South languages plus Hindi. All have broken records and ejected the status-quoist and even patronising mind-sets. The Rajnikanth starrer 2.0 with its special VFX effects comes in at no 2 on the Indian BO ratings and pulled in around Rs 190 crs on the Hindi circuit. KGF has broken ground on both counts- breaching the Rs 100 crs barrier on home turf and crossing Rs 250 crs in total collections. The slow burn gangster drama, led by the charismatic Yash, had mixed reviews but resonated with single screen audiences well beyond Karnataka. Allu-Arjun’s Pushpa has scored a century in BO terms in the Hindi belt and again mostly through single screens. A story about red-sandalwood smuggling it has the smell of the soil and has appealed to cine-goers especially in the tier 2 towns. Whilst many Bollywood producers are stuck in their multiplex ivory towers. Another key factor in the success story are the peppy songs and the dance numbers which have gone viral on You Tube. The Hindi film industry has lost its feel for even catchy songs and groovy dance numbers which had contributed so much to its growth and appeal.
The theatrical release of Rajamouli Garu’s next magnum-opus RRR has been deferred because of Covid restrictions. This saga of freedom fighters in the India of the 1920’s has created huge hype and expectations. How times have changed. This time around the Bollywood bigwigs will carefully plan the release of their films after knowing when RRR is going to hit the cinema halls.
The OTT platforms and the prolonged Covid lockdowns have played a seminal part in changing both audience expectations and awareness. Now, with just 2 or 3 clicks they are watching a regional film or a foreign movie with sub-titles or dubbed in their preferred language. Good films from the South have piqued the interest of millions of film buffs and have ticked a lot of boxes. The natural acting of the Malayalam film icon Mohanlal in Drishyam 2 has simply blown away the watchers and social media has kicked in to spread the good word. Fahadh Faasil has created a fan following outside Kerala on the strength of his performances and especially his chilling portrayal in Kumbalangi Nights. Audiences woke up to the talent of Vijay Sethupathi after watching his depiction of a trans-woman in Super Deluxe. Then there are the inevitable comparisons with some much –hyped Bollywood stars who are trapped in their comfort zone and keep repeating themselves.
Film audiences are also raising the bar on content. Even a masala film has to be entertaining, not mindless fare. Like Jathi Ratnalu the rollicking Telugu film of the Andaz Apna Apna genre. Take Jai Bhim the social-legal drama based on a true story in Tamil Nadu- It has the highest IMDb ratings of any Indian film on an OTT platform-9.3. And one of the lowest IMDb rating goes to- Salman bhai’s Radhe at 2.1. Tamil star Suriya who produced and acted in this intense and controversial film had earlier backed Soorarai Pottru, a fictionalised version of the book Simply Fly by Capt Gopinath the founder of Air Deccan. It was the only Indian film eligible for the Best Picture Oscar nomination in 2021. The political satire made for television, Mandela, is worth watching on Netflix because of the sheer quality of filmmaking.
The Bombay/Mumbai film industry owes a lot to the Southern fraternity. Studios like Vijaya Productions and Devar Films bankrolled major films like Ram aur Shyam and Haathi Mere Saathi. Of course, Padmalaya Productions kept a fit Jeetendra going through his PT exercise dance sequences with Sridevi and Jayaprada in loud, family melodramas. Let’s take a dekko at the never ending list of remakes. Hrithik Roshan”s next is Vikram Vedha based on the Tamil hit of the same name. Shahid Kapoor’s career was resurrected by Kabir Singh, a remake of the Telugu film Arjun Reddy. Ajay Devgan has featured in 10 such projects, the latest being Kaithi. And lest we forget the roll call of honour for famous Hindi film heroines- Vyjayanthimala and Waheeda Rehman, Hema Malini and Rekha, Sridevi and Jaya Prada….
Other than the big producers and financiers, the people who really call the shots in Bollywood are the distributors and theatre chain owners. They have burnt their hands badly over the last few years with debacles like 1983, Radhe, Thugs of Hindustan, Zero and Bombay Velvet all featuring the elite stars of the Mumbai filmi duniya. The South has taught them umpteen lessons on how mega films can deliver mega results. It is not a coincidence that Karan Johar who invested in Baahubali 2 The Conclusion is backing the much awaited Brahmastra with Randhir Kapoor. They are also keenly aware that the Return on Investment ( ROI) is much higher and the Risk factor considerably lower on movies shouldered by the second-line star actors like Ayushman Khurana (Andhadhun) , Vicky Kaushal (Uri) and the late Sushant Singh Rajput (Chichore). Made at modest budgets ranging from Rs 50 crs to Rs 35 crs they have grossed Rs 435 crs Rs 285 crs and Rs 225 crs respectively. Despite having limited screen release in the range of 800-1200 screens. These movie mandarins are also clued in to the big Hindi movie release formula- Eid-Diwali-Christmas. 4000 screens and hiked up multiplex ticket rates. The footfalls dropping dramatically in the second week. And those with their ears to the ground know that the days of the Super Star may well be over. Actors like Manoj Bajpayee in Family Man and Pratik Gandhi in Scam 1992 have created a large viewership, who eagerly awaits their next venture, albeit on a streaming channel.
For Bollywood, the writing is on the big screen. The language barrier is no longer holding. Their hold on the pan-India market is diminishing. On the world stage, the Indian film industry has a long way to go to feature on the same page as Hollywood or the Chinese film industry. China with 70000+ screens grossed over $9.3 billion in movie revenue in 2019 (pre-Covid). The Hollywood North America box office gross was $11.4 billion in 2019 plus the rich overseas collections for their Superhero and Fantasy offerings. Movies like Spiderman and Avengers with their multiple language release have a huge market in India. With 44,000 screens in the US of A there is a robust infrastructure for the cine-goers. One of the biggest challenges for our film industry is the paucity of screens-only 6327 single screens and 3200 multiplex screens for the approx. 1700 films made every year. Many of them do not even find a release date. The overall revenue of Indian cinema reached $2,7 billion in 2019. That same year the global box office was worth $42.2 billion.
It’s also just a matter of time before a Bengali or a Marathi film becomes an All India rage. Some of the best Hindi film classics have been made by masters like Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. And Marathi movies have come of age with offerings like Tumbaad, a horror fantasy, Court, an intimate social-legal drama and Natsamrat which is influenced by Shakespeare’s King Lear and showcases Nana Patekar in the role of a lifetime. Also don’t be surprised if a Punjabi, Odiya, Bhojpuri or Gujarati film makes the breakthrough and punches far above its regional weight.
It’s a happening, exciting time for the Southern India film industry. Also a wake-up call for Bollywood to get its act together.
(Soures: Box Office Data/Stats/Figures sourced from- Box Office Diary, Box Office Hungama, Indian Cinema-Wikipedia, SACNIK, Statista, Hollywood Reporter)
Rafa Nadal’s epic win at the Australian Open (AO) has sent seismic waves through the sporting world. The MARCA Sports News aptly captured the moment, “… when someone tells you something is impossible, think about Rafa.” Just 6 months earlier he was on crutches. He tested Covid positive in December 2021 and went into home quarantine. Beating the world no 2, Medvedev, 10 years younger and raring to go; 2 sets down and 3 match points down in the 3rd set; winning a gruelling 5 setter in 5 hours and 24 mins. Boris Becker had once said,’ the fifth set is not about tennis. It is about the head and the heart.’
His good friend, arch-rival and tennis legend Roger Federer paid this classy tribute, “Never underestimate a great champion. Your incredible work ethic, dedication and fighting spirit are an inspiration to me and countless others around the world. I am proud to share this era with you and honoured to play a role in pushing you to achieve more as you have done for me for the past 18 years. A few months ago we were joking about being on crutches.”
The first few years for the young Nadal on the professional circuit were brutal. Stress fracture to the left ankle in 2004, foot injury in 2005, knee injuries in 2007, 2008, 2009. In his book ‘Rafa’ published in 2011, he admitted to contemplating ditching the sport and play golf instead. The trauma continued. A lengthy lay-off after Wimbledon in 2012; missing the US Open in 2014 with a wrist injury; sitting out Wimbledon 2016 because of a torn tendon in the left wrist. The Spaniard wryly started talking about an expiration date. But he returned to sweep the French Open from 2017-2020 and win the US Open 2017&2019. Plagued by injuries!! In June 2021, he pulled out of the Wimbledon and the Olympics- ‘to listen to his body and recuperate.’
The tennis experts have marvelled about his game. The spin and bounce that he creates especially through his forehand, often causing the ball to bounce more than expected. His ability to return almost anything with incredible speed. But the Nadal Effect is far bigger than the sport he represents. The Croatian Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric had this to say after the famous AO win, “How well you represent the value of sports, Mr Rafael Nadal.” An emotion shared across the world of sports. A B De villiers, Mr 360, remarked, “Rafa always shows us what sport is all about. Respect for the opponent and the game. Incredible fight till the end. Humility, irrespective of his achievements.”
The way Rafa has conducted himself on and off the court has been remarkable. When repeatedly pressed on his 21st Grand Slam win he shrugged it off with “I don’t care if I am the GOAT (Greatest of All Time). I am super satisfied and feel like a very lucky person in general for all the good things that happen to me in life. I am not going to be frustrated if Novak or Roger finish careers with more Grand Slams than me. Let’s enjoy the situation. We did very special things in our sport. The other things don’t matter.”
It’s not surprising that way back in 2008 the tennis champ and his mother founded the ‘Rafa Nadal foundation.’ ‘To try to help and give back to society all the luck we have and how well life has treated us. To bring into play the transformative power of education and sports. For the disadvantaged children.’ The Foundation has also embraced the care of the children with intellectual disabilities and the cause of social integration of vulnerable kids. A Nadal educational and tennis school was set up at Anantpur in India in 2010. The students from poor communities are assured of academic support, tennis coaching, nutritious meals and basic health care. Toni Nadal, his uncle and well known coach heads the Tennis Academy which opened in Mallorca, Spain and is now home to 130 youngsters. The Academy courts have since rolled out in Greece and Kuwait also.
The other much feted tennis star Roger Federer has transcended his sport to become a global cultural icon. His 20 Grand Slam triumphs and innumerable ATP tournament wins have just added to his aura- oozing cool, charm and charisma. But the young Roger was prone to outbursts and tantrums and bouts of laziness. At Roland Garros in 2000, his first year on tour, he created an unseemly racket by throwing his racquet 4 times in succession. In 2001, his loss at the Hamburg Open was exacerbated by his unsportsmanlike behaviour. The emotional turning point came with the death of his coach Peter Carter in a car accident in August 2002. The young Swiss tennis player was devastated and bawled his heart out. He made a decision to change his life amidst ferocious grief. Now with an acute sense of mortality, he started seeing a sports psychologist (The Roger Federer Story- the Quest for Perfection by Rene Stauffer). “So… so his phenomenal mental strength was not a natural gift but a learned skill. He decided to combat Fire with Ice. Have fire and the burning desire to win but also the ice-coolness to absorb losses and bad matches.” Hardly surprising that his peers voted him to receive the Sportsmanship Award 13 times.
When tennis was becoming boring with power dominated baseline games, Fed Ex with the sheer beauty of his game and the fluid movements took the game of tennis to another level. The touch and the finesse , the subtlety and the artistry took our breath away. Roger Federer was the master of reading his opponents game and manipulating spaces on the courts through sublime movements. What has stayed with me is an article in a sports magazine describing him as, “a combination of Zorro with a flashing blade and a graceful ballet dancer.” The Swiss Master, 5 years Nadal’s senior, has gone through foot and back injuries in 2007 & 2008 and 3 knee procedures in 2020-2021.
It is not sufficiently well known that he is the author and the driver behind the ‘Laver Cup’- pitting European tennis players against their counterparts from the rest of the world. Inspired by the ‘Ryder Cup’ in golf but graciously named after the Australian maestro.
The Roger Federer foundation has been working effectively for 18 years to help poor and handicapped children in Switzerland and across 6 southern African countries. It has delivered meaningful primary education to more than 2 million kids to give them a fair shot at life. More than $ 52 million have been invested over 7000 schools. For education and nutritious meals. More than 10000 teachers have gone through mentoring programs to make a real difference in the class rooms. During the Covid lockdown 64000 children in Africa were sustained through the injection of $1 million for their welfare. His Humanitarian stature is further enhanced by the fact that a world-wide poll listed him at no. 2 amongst the most respected and trusted people. No. 1 was Nelson Mandela.
The third member of the Holy Trinity is the Serb, Novak Djokovic. Despite his current travails the odds are that in a year or so he will be anointed as GOAT amongst mens’ tennis players. At least another 2 or 3 Grand Slam majors silver ware will adorn his expanding trophy cabinet. He is regarded as the greatest counterpuncher and possibly the best returner of serve of all time. A lethal backhand and awesome all-court agility makes him the force that he is. The pinpoint accuracy and depth of his shots overwhelm even his ranked opponents. Another interesting aspect of his game, pointed out by pundits, is his uncanny ability to raise the level of his game. And when it’s about the ‘big points’ Novak sails through. Rafael Nadal has admitted that the difficulty in playing Djoko is that there is no clear game plan because there is no clear weakness. He is unique in the sense that he is an implacable defender at heart who mutates into a dominant attacker at will.
Djokovic, who is not held in the same esteem as Federer and Nadal, received the the ATP Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award in 2012. He and his wife Jelena have been hugely supportive of good and inclusive early childhood education in Serbia. Some may be surprised to know that this anti-vaxxer has donated 1 million pounds for purchase of ventilators and other medical equipment to support hospitals in his country during the pandemic. An eye-brow raising nugget is that Novak is an 80% promoter in a Danish bio-tech firm which hopes to come up with a cure for the Covid virus.
Over the last few years the tennis ace has made some poor choices which have landed him into controversy. At the height of the pandemic he organised the Adria tennis tour in the Balkans. Thousands of tickets were sold and players like Cilic, Thiem and Dimitrov signed up. The tournament had to be cancelled after some of the players tested positive. In 2021 he made a list of demands to Tennis Australia before the AO. Like private houses for the players and private tennis courts and reduction in the quarantine periods. This attitude of self-entitlement continued at this year’s AO when a confused and incompetent Aussie establishment finally deported him on ‘Public Health and Good Order’ grounds. The bad times go back to the 4th round of the 2021 US Open where Novak defaulted the match for hitting a line-umpire with the ball, albeit inadvertently, in frustration.
Sports has its great players and athletes who are not so great role models. And there are the hallowed few who embody the soul and spirit of Sports through their masterful skills and amazing grace. Game, set and match. Despite the number of tennis majors’ trophies on Novak’s shelves, Roger and Rafa will remain the most admired and respected tennis players.
A sense of humour is the ability to see the funny side of things and revel in the experience. Enjoy the moment. Different people and cultures may find different things funny. RK Laxman’s Common Man and You Said It cartoons published daily in the Times of India did it for me. The subtle digs at our socio-political system with its antics and posturing’s and travails hit home. The entertaining wordplay in the Amul ads had a charm of their own. Chuckling through the Life’s Like That and Laughter is the Best Medicine features in the Reader’s Digest became a monthly dose of humour. Moving on to the witty metaphors and quirky humour in the PG Wodehouse novels. It helped that many amongst friends and family were already on the same bandwagon.
Comedy films have a lasting and refreshing impact. Be it the vintage Modern Times with Charlie Chaplin or the Hindi film classics like Padosan, Chupke-Chupke, Angoor, Golmaal or Hera Pheri. One can watch these movies again and again and still laugh out loud at familiar scenes. This is the effervescent power of humour. Recently, I viewed on YouTube filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi relive the making of Andaz Apna Apna which has now acquired cult status. One couldn’t help but laugh with the Director as he laughingly narrated what craziness transpired behind the scenes. During Covid times in 2021 the rollicking Telugu film in a similar genre, Jathi Ratnalu, captured an all-India audience on the OTT space. As did the Tamil comedy-drama-political satire Mandela.
A book called The Wit of Cricket delightfully revealed that the game has so much more to offer than statistics and records and trophies and controversies. At the Headingly Test in 1952 the Indian team were in dire straits- losing 4 wickets for no runs in the second innings. Fiery Fred Truman was bowling to the hapless batsman. He beat him with sheer pace and then hit him on the shoulder. The 5th ball of the over then found the sensitive spot-you know where- the box guard. The batter collapsed to the ground in pain. After a few minutes he got up to face the next delivery. The commentator dryly remarked, “Good Man. One ball left.”
Humour in the work-place. A great way to alleviate stress, make work enjoyable and build camaraderie. As a fresher and trainee at National Insurance Company Ltd in 1981 I went through one of the first issues of the Company magazine. The last page caught my eye as it referred to the Funny Side of It. Capturing some of the amusing reasons given by customers in a claim form after a motor vehicle accident. One said, “the only and immediate reason for the accident was a small man in a medium car with a big mouth.” Years later with the newly formed Bajaj Allianz General Insurance I was at the meeting hall of a Corporate Finance Company with whom we had signed a tie-up. The senior Manager- probably struggling with the word Allianz- introduced me as “He… is … Alien.” There was laughter for many, many minutes. But then I had the opportunity to make an informal pitch to a receptive group, happy to hear from an extra-terrestrial.
Even at official conferences and presentations light-hearted wit often wins the day. A friend of mine who is an Actuary told me about a conference he had attended in London. One of the main speakers projected his PPT on screen. It introduced him as say, John Woods, MA FIA (Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries). This brought the roof down and as the laughter subsided, he dryly remarked that there was actually little difference between the MAFIA and Actuaries. The latter estimated the number of mortalities in an area whilst the Mob actually decided who would depart. A rapt audience listened to a 60 minute presentation on a dry subject like Data Analytics as it was peppered with some more amusing anecdotes.
Even serious messages have more impact and recall value when packaged in ironic terms. Like some Indian Road signs, ‘Better be late than Mr Late’ and ‘This is a Highway, not a Runaway.’
We have the 5 senses and Intuition or Instinct is at times referred to as the sixth-sense. Some psychologists have characterised Humour as the 7th Sense whilst many others refer to it as a character trait or virtue. Empirical research has supported the fact that a person with a good sense of humour will be in a better position to handle difficult times, enjoy more cohesive relationships and benefit from more positive mental and physical health. The singular attribute is the relief from stress and worry with laughter serving the function of a steam pressure valve. The muscular and breathing process connected with laughter plays the role of releasing pent-up anxiety and frustration.
Hence the ever increasing popularity of Late Night shows, Stand Up comedy acts, Laughter clubs and comic memes on social media. All for the good. However, there is an unseemly and even toxic side to this trove of laughs and guffaws. Double meaning dialogues in films and plays have an audience of their own. But a definite line should be drawn at Misogynist, Racist or Community offensive joke and even where the unfair stereotyping of a people is perpetuated. They are not only in bad taste but can spell trouble. Sarcasm is oft called a wasted form of wit. Churchill revelled in it and once famously called out a political opponent, “There, but for the grace of God, goes God.”
One wishes that our political leaders hold back on vitriol and invective and resort to wit and humorous repartee. The political scenario in the US of A today is vituperative. But our Netas can take heed from Ronald Reagan who was targeted for his age during his re-election bid, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponents youth and inexperience.” He won his second Presidency term.
In conclusion one has to be careful if the gags and jokes are at someone else’s expense. The warm, fun quotient goes out of it if it becomes a barb to hurt another’s feelings or identity. But self-deprecating humour helps in navigating situations – even sensitive ones- and fostering rapport. If one can laugh at oneself and not take oneself too seriously, life tends to become simpler and smoother. It feels like some tiresome burden has been removed. Lighten up and let the laughs roll and the smiles spread.
The scourge of corruption and the unaccountability of the political class and their complicit bureaucrats have seriously undermined India’s well-being and development. Good, transparent and fair governance has never been front and centre. In our country the rich and the connected are above the law.
Let’s start with the sensational potboilers playing out in Mumbai for the last 2 years and more. The unexplained death of film actor Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR) which the city police immediately dismissed as a suicide. This tragic event was preceded 3 days earlier by another mysterious death of Disha Salian, one time manager of SSR. Passed off as another suicide. Accompanied by a curious, affirmative chorus from a section of the media, some film people and some politicos. Both the cases were closed in the first week itself by the Mumbai police, supported by botched up post mortems at a convenient hospital. The entire approach seemed casually pre-determined. The professional Mumbai police of yesteryears under Julio Ribeiro would not have contaminated the possible crime- scenes. Once evidence surfaced of a possible link between the 2 suspicious deaths, the detectives should have been smacking their lips. Instead, a narco-racket connection, missing hard-drive from SSR’s systems and trails leading to the film industry and the corridors of power were ignored and buried. Thanks to massive outrage on social media the CBI and NCB were brought into the picture and raised hopes of a thorough investigation. Over the last 18 months there have been political theatrics and lots of planted news but justice has not been served. The Central Agencies have flattered to deceive. Why the inordinate silence. ?! At least let the final official version come out.
The other matter is equally sensational and has many strands. The “Vasooligate” or extortion scandal masterminded by some politicians and their police lackeys. Collecting monthly money from dance clubs, bars, restaurants et al. Shades of the protection money or hafta collected by the goons of the underworld. The Home Minister had to resign, a big wicket to fall. That’s all. The Sarkar’s hand-picked Commissioner of Police ended up on the wrong side of this venal churning and disappeared for more than 220 days. What were the State Police and the Central Agencies doing??!! An absolute disgrace. A re-instated sub-inspector goon presumably ran the racket at the behest of the powers that be and went around with a note counting machine. Was the administration sleeping?! Amidst all this a dead body was found floating near a creek. Quickly pronounced as another suicide by the local police authorities. However, in this case the charade could not be kept up and Murder it was. Another link to this curious plot was the planting of explosive devices outside the residence of India’s richest man, Mr Mukesh Ambani. Central Agencies like the CBI and NIA joined the fray with the Mumbai CID and Police going great guns. With so much time, energy and resource invested what has been the outcome so far. Another never-ending saga. Till the next episode. For public memory is short.
This leads to 3 assumptions. First, that the police are under the control of their political masters and will not rock the boat. The colonial police of the British Raj has evolved into the “Feudal” force of present times. All political parties are one on this matter. Ironically, if given a free hand the cops will not cop-out but can solve difficult cases like the Nirbhaya rape and murder.
The investigating agencies have not been provided with the professional know-how and infrastructure to crack today’s crimes. Forensic training, social data recovery, tracking cyber-hacking footprints and money-laundering trails and sharing of inputs between different agencies. In the much publicised “Aarushi” murder case incompetent police and forensic work has led to the question of whether the conviction of the Talwars was a miscarriage of justice.
Last but not least is to whether there is a quiet understanding between the political parties to have each other’s backs if a big scandal erupts. A few pawns will have to be sacrificed but that’s the political chess-board, isn’t it. The long-hands of the law rarely grasp the necks of the biggie politicians, business and media tycoons and stars and celebrities.
Please draw your own conclusions. Are these raids or arrests – witch-hunts or political or personal vendetta? Or just to gain political capital from a gullible populace and garner votes during elections. For many of these arrests and allegations are made just before election season kicks off? Or to deflect and distract public attention from some sordid goings on in their own camp? Here, a word of caution. In all fairness, such fraud or crime issues should not be kept simmering indefinitely. The Government of the day (the BJP led government now or the State governments) should give it a closure if there be no conclusive evidence. It should not be raked up again for a hit job during the next election season. As the Bard said, “a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
The unearthing of the Rs 270 crs cache of black money from the residence of a perfume baron in UP coincides with the upcoming UP election. Probably, these monies were to fund rallies and campaigns; to buy and swing votes for some political party in the State polls. With some part of the country always in election mode, such news snippets give a sense that the anti- black money mission is very effective. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Despite De-Monetisation, unaccounted cash continues to grow and thrive. This dark side of our election story harks back many decades. The Nagarvala case of 1971. Supposedly a RAW agent gone rogue. The Rs 60 lakhs of unaccounted cash was kept in suitcases at a leading nationalised bank branch and handed over to this mystery man on the basis of a purported phone call from the PMO office. He was nabbed the next day, confessed and sentenced within 2 days, to a 4 years imprisonment and died in prison a few months later. One of the speculations was that this was KGB sponsored election funds. The Agency had infiltrated the highest levels of our Government per the Mitrokhin documents. Today’s Chinese whispers are that Chinese money is propping up some of our political outfits, media houses and activists. A serious national security issue. Indian intelligence agencies will be on high alert.
Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi are our poster-boys of financial crimes. The two have duped our PSU banks of thousands of crores and are financial fugitives in London. Their passports could have been impounded as evidence of their scams had already surfaced. That the King of Good Times attended a Rajya Sabha session on the 1st March 2016 before fleeing the next day is telling. Coincidentally, it was on the 2nd March 2016 that a cluster of PSU banks moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal against Mallya. The diamond merchant escaped from the country on the 1st Jan 2018. On the 29th Jan 2018, the PNB filed a case with the CBI against Modi. Is it just sloppiness on display here or is there more to it? The Panama papers were released in 2016 with the names of 930 Indians or entities parking their monies in off-shore accounts in tax havens. The Pandora papers of 2021 exposed the names of 300 Indian businessmen and celebrities with such accounts. These reports are the work of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICICJ) and many European countries have taken serious note and action. Other than a few snippets here and there like the actress Aishwarya Rai being called for questioning, there does not seem to be much headway. It needs to be said that some of these off-shore accounts may have been disclosed and legitimate. Official statements to such effect must also be released.
Over the last 70+ years Independent India has seen thousands of public frauds, corruption scandals, corporate favouritism cases, and ties with the underworld. But the administrative will to go after the big-wig culprits has simply not been there. Yes in the late 50’s Mundhra went to jail in the LIC scam as did Big Bull Harshad Mehta in the stocks-scam of the 1990’s. But the exception proves the rule. The defence procurement scams of HDW submarine, Bofors and Augusta Westland have never been laid to rest. The middle-men have been outed and named (foreign nationals) but the investigators have lacked the balls or the skills to connect them with senior political figures or bureaucrats. Mr VP Singh, our Mr Clean PM, used them to win an election, period. The leaked Nira Radia tapes not only brought to light the corporate lobbying interface with the Union Ministers. It also hinted at how coalition political partners were vying for lucrative ministerial berths and how influential media persons were facilitating the same. The Saradha Chit fund Ponzi scam claimed a couple of MLA’s in Bengal and the file was closed. Coming to the present, is it so difficult to establish whether in the Rafale fighter aircraft deal kickbacks of 7.5 million euros were paid in secret commission to a middleman to seal the deal (alleged by a French investigative journal in 2021). Although, the Supreme Court has already ruled on the matter in 2019.
Some may pertinently point out that Bihar’s CM Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav went to jail in the fodder scam. Sure. His wife, Smt Rabri Devi became the interim CM. Madam Jayalalitha also spent time in jail in a disproportionate assets case, but her life is celebrated in a recent film drama called “Thalaivi” or Revolutionary leader. Sahara Shree Subroto Roy is in the Tihar jail. But he is frequently out on parole and by all accounts having a cushy arrangement in the prison quarters also. The Sahara group long innings was enabled by political patronage. Mr Ramalinga Raju spent only 35 months behind bars for the Satyam Corporate scam which shook the Indian business world at that time. Not even a slap on the wrist. Film star Sanjay Dutt was jailed for illegal possession of weapons but was out on parole for a large chunk of his sentence time. And then there was the film, “Sanju” and director Raj Kumar Hirani doing a great white-wash job on his buddy’s very dubious connections.
The NCB raids especially on Bollywood stars have attracted a lot of media attention. Drug peddlers have been nabbed and there have been drug seizures across the country. Some film stars have been grilled eliciting excited reactions on social media. The spotlight on drug trafficking and the film world is welcome. These celebrities are role models to millions of youngsters and their being held accountable is a good thing. So is the counselling of some of the young stars and star scions. But here again are we missing the forest for the trees. Drugs are the main source of income for the underworld and the Pakistani establishment and terror outfits in the region use it to fund terrorism. It finally boils down to a national security issue. No political party or law and order machinery can compromise on this. Also, what of the 3000 kgs of heroin worth Rs 20,000 crores seized at Adani port in Oct 2021. The Director of Revenue Intelligence and the National Intelligence Agency are seized of the matter. But will we know more about the origins and the kingpins or will it just remain one of the largest drug seizures in the world?
This leads me to another headline grabber- the incarceration of businessman Raj Kundra for 60 days around Sept 2021. He was arrested by the Mumbai police in connection with an adult film racket. Released on a surety of a paltry Rs 50,000. Was this yet another case of Much Ado About Nothing; or was it the Maharashtra Sarkar trying to deflect attention from the “Vasooligate” crises; or with the accused being the husband of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty was it signalling that it was not being soft on the film industry. Perhaps the Mumbai police was trying to reclaim its lost glory. Else, did this exemplify another case-study of poor diligence and follow-up in building up a convincing case? An aside. Raj Kundra is a joint-owner of the Rajasthan Royals franchise which was banned from the IPL tournament for 2 years on match fixing charges.
Take the case of match-fixing in Indian cricket. Would the truth have ever come out had not South African captain Hansie Cronje admitted and confessed to South Africa’s King Commission in 2000 that he had fixed matches for money and had been first introduced in 1996 by Azharuddin, the India captain, to a bookie. Granted that the Delhi police had shared the initial findings with the South African Cricket Board in March 2000. A side-note is that a PR movie called “Azhar” was made to clean the slate and he became the Congress MP from Moradabad and now is a senior functionary in the Telangana Congress. Then the IPL match fixing and spot fixing scandal saw CSK and RR being banned for 2 years from the tournament. Sreesanth being the only well- known cricketer to take the rap. Why the top promoters, administrators and players got away is not really a mystery. Incidentally, the film on MS Dhoni makes no mention of this sordid saga.
The toxic effect of unbridled corruption and power on our society is there for all to see. The black-money economy has become a large, parallel and unregulated sector with all its corrosive impact. But it is the top-down trickle syndrome which has earned us the stigma of a highly corrupt nation. People in all walks of life are now emboldened to be corrupt and not only for financial gain. Integrity has lost its value and currency. The real brunt is being felt by the poor and the middle-class. Think of the labourer whose 50% wages is siphoned off on a daily basis by the contractor through his agent. The Government proclaims that a lot of government transactions and document related work can be completed on-line. Things have improved in certain areas like passport issuance and renewal. Otherwise, the ground reality is that one has to download forms and submit the documents physically. If one wants prompt results, enter the agent. You know what this means. This palm greasing for every little thing is what earns us the honors on global corruption indexes. The heroism of front-line health workers, policemen and sanitary workers and many common folk are being justly applauded in these Covid hit times. But one cannot turn a blind-eye to the huge profiteering during the pandemic. Whether it being availability of the Remdesivir drug or the scarcity of oxygen or hospital beds. Covid 19 has shown us both the good and bad sides of who we are as a people. The Aam Aadmi has just given up or become indifferent to this plague of corruption.
What is also worrying is that even educated people tend to shrug off this unsavoury aspect of life. As if it was just another tax to pay as a common citizen. Even more worrying is that many of them tend to look at corruption through the prism of community, State or ideology. Underhand dealings are ok if done by a leader from ones’s own community, State or preferred political party. Some of these charlatans are feted as Chanakyas- Masters of the political chess-board.
The pandemic of corruption is rampant throughout India and has hollowed us out as a nation. Is it better or worse in a certain area or region or government is a relative concept. The misdeeds of the present Union Government will also be exposed after a few years. After all, they have adopted the same old playbook. Then the skeletons will be out of the closet and will dance to the tunes of the new regime in place.
One of the lowest points of the current dispensation has been the handling of the 2017 Unnao rape and subsequent murder cases. The BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar continued to get the support of his party till the shit hit the ceiling. The 17 year old rape victim tried to immolate herself in front of the CM’s residence and the media and activists thankfully jumped in from thereon. Amidst the uproar, the Supreme Court and the CBI had to step in to send this so called local bahubali to life imprisonment in 2019.
One of the ways to break this insidious status quo is the tabling of the Vohra Committee report in its entirety in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for an intensive debate. It should also be made available for public scrutiny and consumption. Submitted in Oct 1993, it is deemed to be an expose of the links between the Mumbai underworld and top politicians and officials at the State and Central governments. Only 7 or 8 pages have been briefly discussed in some Parliamentary Committee and the 100+ page exhaustive dossier has apparently gone missing. Why??? By Whom??? The PIL matter is pending with the Supreme Court.
Police reforms will be the game-changer. A litmus test for the Central Government. Incredibly, the Police Act of 1861 is still in place. The landmark SC ruling of 2006 with its 7 crucial directives for implementation has been gathering dust for many years. A law-oriented, fair, impartial and apolitical police force is a hallmark of a mature and progressive nation. But an anathema to the powers that be. This vital force has to be ramped up by half a million personnel; their abysmal working conditions and below- par salary structure requires significant improvement; with modern equipment and training enhancing their effectiveness and public perception. But considering the general disenchantment with the police, it will make sense to expand the Community-Policing initiative. To foster engagement and trust between the people and the police in an area. The other side of the same coin is to invest in, to overhaul and build a robust judicial system. Most administrations have been very miserly on their judicial related budgets.
Our Netas and their Enablers are averse to any change and they rejoice in the general public apathy. As a people we are quite indifferent to reform although we will benefit the most from it. Change for the common good has to be forced into the system. Constant pressure has to be built up and applied on the powers that be. Social media now provides a vast and instant connect and it’s for the citizens and especially the younger, aspirational generation to put the writing on the wall.
The drubbings at the hands of Pakistan and New Zealand in the T20 World Cup tick both the boxes in the above title. Getting thrashed by 10 wickets and 8 wickets is akin to an innings defeat in a Test match. The Men in Blue are out of another ICC major championship —only this time not making it to the knock-out stage.
Is it such a rude shock? Not really. First, the hype. The IPL is the world’s most glamorous cricket carnival hosted by the richest cricket body, the BCCI. It has given opportunity and confidence to the younger players and enhanced the fitness levels of our cricketers. Some of India’s best have been spotted by IPL franchise scouts; Bumrah was discovered by the Mumbai Indians. The flip side is that it does not have the intensity found in major ICC tournaments or even in well-contested series especially with the SENA nations. The cricketers are feted as celebrities and the real contest and the competitive edge are missing. But here lies the catch. The fortunes of the IPL and Team India are interlinked. If the latter continues to underperform at major tournaments, the mass following for the IPL will dwindle.
Many well-paid commentators, including ex-cricketer experts, have all jumped onto the gravy train. So on international series and tours, they no longer objectively call out selection mistakes, wrong captaincy calls, poor reading of the game, bad sportsmanship, or cracks appearing in team spirit. So when Shastri says that this is the greatest Indian team ever, there is a chorus of approvals. While Kohli says his team can win from any situation, there is chest-thumping in the media. Overconfidence leads to bad results. Curiously, there is very little focus on Impact players from the other teams. Remember that Harsha Bhogle was put out in the cold for some time a few years back. His sin – he had something good to say about the competing international players also. Millions of die-hard fans have been fed this false narrative that our cricket team is head and shoulders above the other teams. Bad days like the 36 all out at Adelaide and the 78 at Headingley on the recent England tour and the defeats at the 2019 ODI WC and the World Test Championships in 2021 are all swept under the carpet.
Indian cricket has an abundance of talent and bench strength which is the envy of other cricketing nations. But this has to be mobilized and harnessed effectively by the captain, coach, selectors, and the BCCI. Captain Kohli’s in-one’s-face aggression has won him a huge legion of fans. But such relentless intensity has also undermined his batsmanship – he is showing symptoms of burn-out. He has been crass and hyper on the field and per reliable reports in the dressing room also. The dressing room environment gradually creeps onto the cricket field. It is bound to affect both team spirit and individual performances. Both are two sides of the same coin. Now let’s talk about Mr Shastri. As the captain’s hand-picked coach and Yes Man, he is also accountable for our futile run at the ICC tournaments. With a rich repository of cricket talent to tap into, this is not acceptable. The toxicity started with the ouster of Kumble as coach at Kohli’s behest and the silence from the BCCI and the cricket establishment. Virat Kohli has gradually become bigger than the game in India. Erratic selection, benching of in-form players, taking decisions solely by instinct, and throwing tantrums have all become acceptable over the years. Analytics inputs or sensible advice from the outside even by a reputed name have all been given the short end of the stick. Team bonding and consistency have suffered and even seasoned players have not played up to their potential.
The extended bio-bubble may have taken its toll on the players. It is also possible that some had tired legs or felt stale with the second leg of the IPL just before the WC T20. But this does not tell the entire story. Pakistan’s cricket team is driven by hunger, anger, and passion. They feel marginalized on the world cricket circuit and have grabbed this opportunity to drive home their point. They are playing out of their skins.
Front and Centre are 2 subjects which are almost taboo topics for our cricketing establishment or brotherhood. Thankfully, Madan Lal has been critical about the scheduling of the IPL second leg just before the T20 WC. Kapil Dev has gone even further- whether the Indian cricketers are giving more preference to this cash rich franchise league than to the singular honour of playing for the country. In the future the BCCI will have to give serious thought to player work-loads and series and tournament schedules with the prime focus being that the Men in Blue bring home some much needed silverware. Else they are killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. The success of the Indian Premier League draws from the success of the national cricket team.
The other relates to Virat Kohli’s captaincy. I guess the jury will always be out on this one. Kohli has become an icon for millions of Indian fans not only because of superlative batting performances but because of his raw aggression, passion for fitness and wearing his heart on his sleeve. Even after his team’s very disappointing exit from the ongoing T20 WC his army of admirers on social media hail him as King Kohli. The cricketing experts and the media in general are tip-toeing around the subject with diplomatic grace. We are living in some strange bubble.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Rahul Dravid will be the next coach. A true cricketing legend and a mentor for many of the younger stars through U19, India ‘A’, and the National Cricket Academy. Immense match experience and cricketing acumen: focused, grounded, level-headed, and universally respected. When The Wall walked out to bat one could see the Indian tricolour fluttering in the breeze. But he has his work cut out. There are challenging times ahead and he has to be given a free hand. Virat Kohli continues as captain for the Tests and ODI’s. Will he listen, change, adapt or even reinvent himself? Regain his mojo as a masterclass batsman? Some of the impressionable youngsters have bought into the hype and the celebrity-dom. They have to face the reality check and rediscover their day-to-day balance. Dravid’s mission is not just to get the Indian cricket team to bond together and play to their fullest potential. He has to get each person on the Indian team to value and respect the India cap to the fullest. And even more. Play to win but with the sporting spirit currently demonstrated by Kane Williamson’s Kiwis.
The First World refers to the USA and its Western Allies opposed to the Soviet Union after WW2. Nations characterised by democracy, prosperity, stability and progress. Over the last 7 decades this bloc has called the shots and controlled the narrative. Developing and Third World countries like India have tacitly accepted their superiority, condescending attitude and sermons without question. As an emerging power now, it is high time we shed our colonial mind-set and see the world in starkly real terms.
The game-changing ideas and policies, innovations and inventions from these western countries are richly acknowledged and warmly celebrated. But it is time to show the mirror to capture the less known darker side also. This blog has been triggered by the American debacle in Afghanistan. Recommend that you please take it with A Fistful of Salt.
Geopolitics. Think about the chaotic retreat of the US from Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation. Leaving almost 40 million Afghans (half of them female) to the mercy of a cruel and regressive regime which harks back to the medieval ages. Leaving a huge cache of deadly weapons and armaments for their ready use. Ironically, the Taliban was created by the US and their partner Pakistan to oust the Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Mission accomplished in 1989. The land of the free and the brave sponsoring and promoting a terror outfit. The monster comes back to drive them out in 2021. During these 20 years almost $3 trillion was spent with only a miniscule going to build hospitals, schools and much needed infrastructure. Funds were splurged on state of the art weaponry and equipment- cheered on by the domestic military-industrial complex. With generous cutbacks going to the defence contractors and their political patrons.
This super-power also exited Vietnam in ignominy in 1974. After dropping more bombs on Vietnam and Cambodia than in the entire second world war. Napalm was deployed to execute the scorched earth policy. Rivers were poisoned to kill civilians and livestock. History is generally written by the winners. Here the loser cleverly covered up all the war crimes and misadventures.
Turn the clock back to the late 1930’s when Hitler’s Nazis started the most devastating war in human history-WW II. Italy, Spain played willing accomplices and second fiddle to the Fuhrer. Those long, dark, destructive days and the brutal genocide of 6 million Jews have been well documented. The War ended with the Americans dropping atomic bombs- Little Boy and Fat Man- on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
All the hotspots in recent times have had the signature of the US and its Allies. That there were no WMD’s (Weapons of Mass Destruction) did not deter the old firm of Bush & Blair from toppling Saddam in Iraq with their eyes on the oil-fields. Syria, Lebanon, Libya and the cursed land of Yemen- the tentacles go back to this Western bloc. This is not to absolve Russia and the regional powers like Saudi Arabia and Iran who are equally complicit. But the First World nations have left these countries to a worse state and fate than when they first invaded. The geo-political chessboard has been played for ideology, hegemony, natural resources, trade routes and military bases. The Iron Curtain fell in 1989 but today the world is still a very divided and troubled place. The First World has not been the civilising influence it credits itself to be.
Colonial powers. UK, France, Spain, Portugal with vassal states across the world. The dream of an Empire has been a recurrent human theme throughout history. But the driving force was to exploit natural resources and wealth and cheap labour in the colonies and boast of a global footprint. “The Sun never sets on the British Empire.’ The plundering of minerals and crops, cruelty towards the native population and determined efforts to uproot local cultures and traditions are not even foot notes in the history books we read. It has all been white-washed.
Slave trade epitomises how the US, UK and other European empires manned their farms and mines and mansions. Even today statues of glorified and knighted slave merchants dot the United Kingdom. Some of the founding fathers of the US of A owned hundreds of slaves. Slaves were officially traded as cargo and even insured. Claims were paid for the goods lost at sea. But the colonisers with their rich history are quick to lecture other nations on human rights. Smells of hypocrisy, right!!
Let’s turn back the page to August 1947 and the India-Pakistan independence story. PM Attlee announced in the House of Commons that the transfer of power would happen before June 1948. But Lord Mountbatten, wanted to have it done asap. The 3323 km border line was drawn by Radcliffe, a British lawyer, who had never been to the sub-continent and had no clue about the demography. The mammoth and complex task was completed by him and his team within 2 months in the cool environs of Shimla. IMAGINE!!! It does not take hindsight to see that the additional months would have been very valuable in communicating and planning for the inevitable cross-migration of 12-15 million people. Instead a million died in the panic and violence that erupted. The last Viceroy couldn’t care less. Nor did his political masters at the Whitehall.
The USA is deeply polarised country today. The Trump fan base of 30% voters are largely an alienated tribe who are at odds with their increasingly multicultural land. The main reason why the Brexiteers won was because Russian social media manipulators scared enough of the populace through images of immigrants flooding into their nation, from the hotspots of the Middle East, Africa and Asia. France, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands (the cradle of liberalism) are sounding the bugle of a clash of civilisations and enacting restrictive laws and social measures. But all these happenings have not been a wake-up call for India and other developing nations . We continue with our mongrel behaviour of constantly putting ourselves down and lapping whatever criticism these elite western nations and their proxies throw at us.
The beacons of democracy. On the 6th Jan 2021 the US Capitol was attacked by an angry, vicious mob goaded on by President Trump who had lost the election and could not take it. This would have been sneered at as” a banana republic episode” in a third world country. But in the US of A the TV pundits kept sagely saying that ‘this is not who we are’ and the Trumpians even dismissed the rampaging crowd as tourists at the Capitol. The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico has been a territory of the United States since 1898 and its current President is Joe Biden. But Puerto Ricans remain second class citizens and have no representation and voting rights in the US Congress. Again, with the most funded and militarised police force in the world in place, automatic guns are available and sold over-the –counter across the nation as a fundamental right to defend oneself.
Across continents, the patronising First World has propped up and supported despots, brutal dictators and puppet rulers. From the Shah of Iran, Libya’s Gaddafi, the Pakistani Generals, Marcos of the Philippines and so on and on. Else, a coup was orchestrated as the one to remove Allende in Chile. The UK grappled with the Irish problem for 70 years. For nearly 25 of those it was a violent cauldron of bomb attacks and guerrilla warfare- ruthlessly dealt with by the British forces. But hey, shrug, shrug. This was an internal matter of the United Kingdom and the English could deal with it.
The fault-lines of racism are now very evident in the fractured societies of the US and Europe. But these have been glossed over for decades as the developing world has been lectured on how to be civilised people. The lid has always been kept on the rape and murder of thousands of indigenous people in Canada. But now corpses of hundreds of native children have been recovered from many Catholic school sites. How many news channels carried this tragic story which played over from the 1890’s to the late 1970’s?!! PM Trudeau merely called for the Pope to apologise. Of course, the State had no role to play. News reports from France state that more than 300000 children have been abused over the last few decades by priests of the Catholic Church. The powerful Church protected its clergy from the law and order arms of the State. On the other side of the world in Australia the aborigines got a taste of hell in their own land as the white settlers discovered their paradise.
Yes, the Industrial Revolution took off in England and the technological one in the Silicon Valley. The world has benefitted in many, many ways. But not in the humane way. Many big brands in the west sourced their material and parts through sweat shops in the poorer countries. Cheap and exploitative labour was the way to big profit margins. Why, even in North America today, Amazon runs boot-camps with the workers having little time to pee. “Show me the Money,” is the corporate war cry. As a whistleblower has recently revealed, Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook allowed disturbing messages and images to trend on their platforms as it made them astronomical profits. So what, if it inflamed some racial hatred and divisions or drove more suicides or even put democracy at risk. A lot of good has been done by the charitable Gates foundation. But the halo of the ultimate billionaire do-gooder has paled off. Bill Gates batted to protect the turf of big pharma at the height of Covid. Disparaging suggestions for low-cost generic vaccines to help the world battling the pandemic. And his curious association with the late sex trafficker and power broker Epstein. Presumably to help him get the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the movie ‘Wall Street’ Gordon Gekko says the famous lines, “Greed is good.” Sure. The top 1% of the US rich pay tax at a lower rate than any other segment of the society. In the rush to cover-up the origins of Covid 19 were many top scientists from Europe and the USA. The stakes were too high. Billions of dollars for the Gain of Function research which possibly led to the leak at the Wuhan Lab in China. The 2008 US financial meltdown featured a lot of Gordon Gekko characters. Banks, Insurers, Wall Street Finance companies, housing corporates, credit rating agencies and big name audit firms all collaborating and looking the other way as the sub-prime and derivatives fuelled crises unravelled. “Too big to fail” and the Government bailed them out. Deregulation of the financial markets from the Reagan years and lack of oversight caused the global crises. And the CXO’s walked away with fat bonuses as millions across the globe lost their jobs and pensions and savings.
The Volkswagen emission cheating scandal represented an ethical breakdown and would have shut-down a lesser Company. The German Government stepped in to bail out this auto-giant which was poised at becoming the largest in the world. High-level talks with the Americans, some big penalties and back to business as usual. What also came out was the European Union’s somewhat lax attitude in applying emission norms to vehicle manufacturers on the Continent.
Let’s come to the Panama Papers and its latest edition called the Pandora Papers. Most of the attractive tax-havens are in the West. Of course, the scenic Switzerland heads the list which has South Dakota in the US, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Lichtenstein… It’s not only the Colombian and Mexican drug lords or Russian oligarchs or the Arab Sheikhs or super-rich Indians stashing away their money through shell companies. The First World had long earned this rite of passage. It is also not surprising that the UK is a preferred destination for financial scamsters. Perhaps, the tough extradition laws appeal to these criminal fugitives. And staying with Colombia and Mexico which are derided for their Narcos cartels. Guess which are the most lucrative markets for the drug peddlers??
We can go on and on. The corruption at the highest levels of FIFA. The systematic doping on the Tour de France. Match fixing in football at the Serie A in Italy. These are all malaises associated with ‘those other countries.’
Human nature is what it is. Power and greed corrupts and no nation or peoples are immune to it. India is a work in progress. A huge and complex nation. We have a surfeit of venal politicians and problems of poverty, un-employment, education and public health. Community and regional divides and the scourges of corruption, and casteism. But we are only 75 years old as a nation and progress is also being made. The young generation will signal the tipping point through its confidence and aspirations.
However, to really discover its own identity India will have to work to protect and serve its interests. That is Realpolitik. Absorb good initiatives and ideas and learn from the failures and blunders. There are positive takeaways from countries in Asia, Africa, Oceania, Middle East and South America. As an emerging power, strive to be a more responsible force both domestically and on the global stage.
The bottom-line is that ideas and philosophies and policies are revisited and revamped or fine-tuned or discarded when actually challenged by ground realities. The world is changing and the struggles and evolution of each nation needs more empathy and a better understanding. The only path towards achieving the Greater Good on the planet.
Portrait of Dilip Kumar in 1946 from Wikimedia Commons
Amitabh Bachchan has famously said that, “the history of Indian cinema shall always be reckoned as before Dilip Sahab and after Dilip Sahab because of his impeccable presence.” Dilip Kumar (Yousuf Khan) made his screen debut in the mid 40’s and became an actor and star to reckon with by the end of that decade. The audience of that era had grown up on high voltage melodrama, high pitched dialogues accompanied by lots of gesticulations. Motilal and Ashok Kumar and (later Balraj Sahani ) had begun the process towards a more natural form of acting. However, it was Dilip Kumar who carried the torch and made it the norm.
Satyajit Ray called him the ‘Ultimate Method Actor.’ Javed Akhtar went a step further and called him the first method actor in the world even before the Hollywood great Marlon Brando burst on the stage and screen. The Indian screen icon has publicly spoken of his admiration for the craft of Brando and Paul Muni.
In lay terms, in order for actors to create natural performances they needed to tap into personal experiences in order to imagine how their characters are feeling. They would use their own memories and relate these emotions to the portrayal of a character. This is the essence of Method Acting although there are many more dimensions to it. In his autobiography ‘Dilip Kumar- the Substance and The Shadow’ the thespian reveals to the narrator Udayatara Nayar, “that the epithet was used to describe me before Brando. I am an actor who evolved a method which stood me in good stead. I learned the importance of studying the scripts and characters deeply and building upon my own gut observations about my own and other characters. It was always meaningful for me to study even those characters that would be close to me or opposed to me.” Thus began a legend’s life- long obsession with immersing in the character and inhabiting the role.
In doing so he changed the very concept and grammar of acting. He redefined the meaning of acting. If the dialogues were potent the acting had to be understated. It was not necessary to shout to be heard. A nuanced body language and even silence conveyed more through the camera lens than a plethora of theatrical gestures. Indeed, this actor had the gumption to enact critical scenes with his back to the camera letting his voice envelope the audience. Remember ‘Ram aur Shyam’ where the quivering voice of the nervous, timid Ram resonates through the halls – of how he has been bullied and beaten into submission by Gajendra babu (his screen brother in law- Pran). He played out the entire gamut of emotions brilliantly from the heartbreak and sorrow of ‘Jogan’ and ‘Devdas’ to the lively fun characters of ‘Kohinoor’ and ‘Ram aur Shyam’. It was no longer taboo for the hero to do comic sequences. Dilip Kumar gave a polish and finesse to acting which till then had been largely confined to self-conscious histrionics.
But a career of almost 5 decades, embellished with many memorable performances, did not just happen. Dilip Sahab imbibed quickly that the art and quality of film-making depended heavily on team-work. He understood the importance of not only the director, co-actors and cinematographer but even the value of a lightman and every member of the set crew, His commitment was not only to his role but to the film itself. Listen to Yash Chopra, third assistant to his brother BR Chopra during the making of ‘Naya Daur,’ “Dilip Sahab spent an entire month with Akhtar Mirza, the writer, and Chopra-saab at his Juhu shack. He would take up each scene with the dialogues and enact it with the drama, pathos, sentiment, humour and deep emotion and render us speechless. He would show us variations in the enactment and enthral us. He not only dwelt upon the moulding of his character but also the character played by Ajit. He made sure that Ajit’s part (a critical character) was equally strong and sensitively written. And the climax of the film was a challenge for Akhtar Mirza. How could a horse-driven tonga beat a motor vehicle in a race. It was Dilip Kumar who gave the writer the idea of the tonga taking a short-cut- something that was logical and convincing.” [Excerpt from ‘Dilip Kumar- the Substance and The Shadow’]
The immersive performance in ‘Devdas’, a man driven by unrequited love to become a complete drunkard. Recall that his eyes are hazy and glazed throughout the film, the spoken word is oft slurred and the silences are melancholic. Film-lore had it that Dilip Kumar got so much into the skin of the character that he had to seek the help of a Harley Street psychiatrist to come out of the depression. And per his advises went on to do some light-hearted roles in ‘Azaad’ and ‘Kohinoor.’
‘Ganga Jamuna’ is considered to be his greatest performance. The ‘Method Actor’ in him made him run all around the studio premises to the point of exhaustion in order to get the right look and feel for the death scene in the film. The rustic dance with a folk flavour to the song ‘Nain Lad Jayi Hai’; a sublime collaborative effort with choreographer Hiralal and team brought out and captured the simple, cheery spirit of that moment. In his movies, songs were in-built into the story and drove the narrative forward. And, speaking the Purbi/Avadhi dialect impeccably after learning from the dialect coach Kumud Tripathi. Actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Naseeruddin Shah who hail from the State of UP have been bowled over.
Dilip Sahab’s voice modulations enhanced his performances. His considered pauses added weight to the delivery. He did not rely only on the spoken word to act. His mere presence in a frame made the scene come alive. And he brought in the subtle art of listening. Listening to what the other character was saying brought realism and involvement to the scene. Then reacting with a mere glance, a half-smile or furrowed eyebrows. Amazing! The audience was sucked into that moment itself.
His dedication was legendary. His quest for perfection was clear. He learnt to play the sitar for months from Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan . All for a song ‘Madhuban me Radhika’ in the film ‘Kohinoor.’ He could have faked it as many of his contemporaries did. But his desire to get the positioning of the instrument and his hand movements right added credibility to the performance.
The under-stated role of Prince Salim in ‘Mughal-e-Azam’. A lesser actor would probably have gone toe-to-toe with Pruthviraj Kapoor’s grandiose Emperor Akbar. The high-pitched dramatic acting, deep throated dialogues and flamboyant style. Dilip Kumar chose to strike a contrasting note. Emoting with his eyes and saying the graceful words in a soft, refined voice. His smile, his walk and the overall demeanour added to the aura of a romantic prince. The ‘Master at Work’ image is further highlighted by a sequence where as an actor he had nothing to do and nothing to say. The interest and emotion he evokes in the viewer as Prince Salim as his lover Anarkali performed the provocative ‘Jab Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya’ number. The prince had to maintain his royal composure even as the Emperor was about to lose his through a series of eruptions. It is very difficult for an actor to make an impact by doing nothing but Dilip Kumar pulled it off.
Let’s move to the heart-rending late -night scene in ‘Mashaal’. Where he is the helpless, elderly man begging for help from nearby residents and passing motorists to take his dying wife to a hospital. Where he is callously pushed by a passing vehicle on to the rain-drenched street. As he screams for help his voice becomes more desperate and hoarse and plaintive and cracks. The scene is numbing and gives us goose-bumps. The consummate actor drew from sad memories of his brother’s death and the anguish on his father’s face in the emotional scenes in ‘Mashaal’ and earlier in ‘Shakti.’
In a career spanning almost 50 years, Dilip Sahab acted in less than 60 films. It must have taken tremendous guts and self-belief to do so. He has himself said in interviews that he had avoided over-exposing himself to the audience. Plus the decision to only work on one film at a time underlined his confidence in the content of these films and his complete dedication to them. He showed courage in the choice of scripts and roles that were varied and different. He moved from being ‘the Tragedy King’ to swashbuckling action to fun and comedy with flair and success. He imbued some characters with gravitas. He took conscious risks with his screen image breaking all the unwritten rules for stars of his era. In ‘Aadmi’ his character is mostly confined to the wheel-chair, a jealous, possessive man with a murderous streak. Much earlier he had played the blind young man in ‘Deedar’, playing the character with his eyes open. And a small aside. Be it the dapper suited gentleman in ‘Andaaz’ or Prince Salim in Mughal regal finery (Mughal-e-Azam) or the dhoti-kurta wearing villager in ‘Ganga Jamuna’, Dilip Kumar donned the role and stepped into the character.
No surprise that he is regarded as the gold-standard of film acting across India. His recent demise has brought heartfelt and glowing tributes from the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Manmooty, Chiranjeevi and many many others. He was the first leading man of cinema to build the bridge across talent-acting-stardom. He had total grasp of the medium of cinema and that it worked only as a collaborative effort. Kamal Haasan has remarked that, “Only after watching his classics he understood the meaning of subtlety; the eloquence of cinema where a mere look or sheer silence can convey so much, so powerfully.” [Excerpt from ‘Dilip Kumar- the Substance and The Shadow’]
The ability to understand a character and react to and from its innate nature was what set Dilip Sahab apart. Let’s have the last take from the legend himself, “Attempts should always be to make films with good stories, sound conflicts, characters that make it real and entertaining. I do not like films with a lot of lectures.” Dilip Kumar has left his indelible imprint on Indian cinema and on a vast global audience. His stellar performances will continue to inspire generations of actors and film-makers to raise the bar for their art, craft and work.
His name is Skipper. A 9 month old Cocker Spaniel who is enriching our lives. Named so by cricket buffs- he is actually leading us and showing us the small pleasures of life.
Unconditional love and trust. In those brown, melting eyes. In the way he scampers around the house to keep us company. If someone coughs or sneezes he approaches with a concerned look. He senses that we are about to go out when he sees one of us dressed up. Then, the mild whimpering and fussing around. He has to be petted and reassured. The delighted welcome when we are back, jumping all over and expressing his joy. During these long months of Covid lockdown the puppy has brought in warmth and fun. And heightened our empathy and understanding.
Living in the moment. It is common to brood over the disappointments of the past or worry about the uncertain future. Especially with all the negativity which seems to shroud us in today’s times. Skipper’s coming has been a blessing. Nudging us towards a positive outlook. Most importantly, living in the present. We are enjoying sitting with him in the balcony and simply watching the kids playing in the society or the birds settling in the trees. After quite some time the smell and flavour of the monsoons have entered our home.
Skipper looking out of the balcony
Skipper has also little time for the loungers and the social media addicts. He demands attention after a reasonable stretch of time. One has to get up and throw the ball or the ring or play tug-tug. He deflects attention from the binge-worthy stuff on Prime or Netfilx or being glued to the phone. These time-outs are not only opportunities to stretch out but also a welcome break from the Work Form Home routine.
Then there is the animal instinct of time. At 5am in the morning he is up for his morning trot and politely waits for me to get up. At around 8.30 pm in the evening he gets a bit restless and cranky if we are not having our dinner. Many a times he comes up and paws and licks us to the table. By around 10.00 pm he is asleep. 15 minutes later he is on his back with all fours in the air. A truly relaxing and resting spectacle.
Skipper and his naps
In the frantic pace of life, we have come to take our meals for granted. Pan the camera on Skipper. Before meal time he will be reminding us of the event through looks or licks and taps on our hands. Once the bowl and ingredients are on the table he bounds onto the nearby sofa to get a closer look and sniff what’s in store. Oft times, he actually sees and smells his food being mixed. Then the smacking and gobbling sounds are the back-track for the next 10-15 mins. Our spaniel has hit the pause button on the rush-rush routines. We now savour whatever is on the plate, talk over small daily stuff and give ourselves more time.
Then there is the actual tail between the legs and not the proverbial one. On our morning walks, Skipper still gets rattled by the motor-cycle which rumbles through the Society at 5.30 am each morning. A couple of larger dogs intimidate him and he scurries to the other side. But the scooters of the early morning vendors no longer bother him. Nor do the cats which dart across. Every day, he is adjusting, learning and growing in confidence.
Soaking in the Sun
He is a dogged doggie. Does not give in in a tug of war over a piece of cloth or a furry toy. There have been occasions when he has mis-judged a jump to catch a ball and fallen on the wrong side. Briefly shaken, but quickly back in action for the next catch.
His cute mannerisms and antics often have us in splits. His stand-up jumping is a sight to behold. When he squats on his hind legs, with his long ears and furry head and soulful eyes he looks like a philosopher. In another moment, when he has had enough of jumping and running he becomes mischievous and hides the ball. When it’s time to wipe or wash his face and mouth after food he avoids looking into the mirror. Inevitably, after the wash or when the room freshener is sprayed Skipper slithers and gyrates on the floor rubbing his nose and face to the floor or the wall. Akin to a ‘Nagin’ dance. At times he irritates us by not finishing his food or biting the mat or digging into a newspaper. He gets smacked and goes quietly to the corner with his head down. The next minute he is back to make amends, wagging his tail and butt and entreating us with those incredible eyes.
Skipper’s melting eyes
Skipper is family. He also makes friends easily and is a favourite with family- friends. He has taken a liking to two security guards in our society, and they to him. These two petting stops have become part of the early morning schedule. He welcomes both our house-helps and they happily take out time to play with him. It is a pleasure to watch. Such innocence and energy have in a sense recharged our lives. Our pup has also introduced us to some professionals- the Dog breeder in Mumbai and a team of Vets near home- whose passion for what they do goes well beyond commerce and business.
As I come to the end of this doggie tale, I look at him. He is stretched out near my chair. Those melting eyes look up and the tail wags gently. He stands up, stretches and bends elegantly. Then the fervent shaking of the head and flapping of those drooping ears. It’s Skipper time.
A Fistful of Salt 