SRK- The Legend Lives On......

14th August 2011 was the date when the ‘body’ and ‘soul’ of Shamsher Raj Kapoor better known in the Hindi film industry as ‘’Shammi Kapoor’’ decided to part ways – the body fading away into oblivion and the soul- immortalized in the hearts of millions of fans who were stunned to believe the colossal loss.
Though, many knew that the end was near with the aging star battling renal failure for almost a decade with only the faith and his ever cheerful attitude, which kept him going.

The Indianised version of Elvis Presley struggled to make a dent in the film industry which boasted of stalwarts like Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor at the helm in the 1950’s.However success didn’t elude him for long and Tum sa Nahi Dekha was his stepping stone to stardom from where he never looked back with a string of hits such as Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening in Paris, Professor, Brahmachari, Dil deke Dekho,Teesri Manzil and so on.
It must be mentioned that the songs which he crooned on screen were sung by the inimitable genius, Mohd Rafi who it seemed gelled with the character and sung with such enthusiasm and versatility as if, his entire life depended on it. The result was flawless rendition, the effervescence of the actor and the vivacious melody of the singer synchronizing and belting out arguably some of the best songs ever composed. Perhaps the Rajesh Khanna/ Kishore Kumar and the Raj Kapoor/Mukesh combo are the only competitors till date.
The only time he reportedly lived the life of a recluse was when his beloved wife- Geeta Bali died of Small –Pox in 1965. After a brief lull he was back to his very best and carried on with life as only he could.
He lives on though, in the hearts of millions of his fans who clamored for his almost silly antics ‘’on screen’’, the Swinging and dancing coupled with wild and vibrant mannerisms, seldom seen on celluloid till the advent of this maverick star. His style was a rage in the late 50’s and the early 60’s and could not be imitated by any one in Bollywood ,though a couple of wooden faced Bengali babu’s did try to ape his grandeur and mannerism’s which ended as abruptly as it began.
Besides being an actor he was very tech savvy. He was one of the first to have subscribed to and access the internet in India, and was very familiar with the latest technology available on hand.
He even had a HAM license and was instrumental in helping and reaching out to people in danger in those days when mobile technology was in an infant stage.
Numerous stories float around about his generosity in helping out many junior artistes as he too in his initial days as a struggler had been in their shoes before achieving stardom.
The cry of Yahoo!! and the scene of Shammi Kapoor sliding down the icy slopes like an avalanche will remain entrenched in our hearts forever.
RIP- SRK …The Legend lives on…………………….

Freedom of Speech

Speech is an art of expressing oneself amongst a gallery of astute listeners.
A good orator is one who captivates his audiences with his mannerisms, wit, intelligence and connects with their inner soul in the minimal time frame.
He should have complete knowledge of the topic under discussion and should be able to have the entire gathering completely under his sway with anecdotes and humor that adds freshness to any monotonous vibes that may prevail in the audience.
The Speech should nether be too long lest the audience would be left squirming in their seats with yawns reverberating all over nor should be too short to leave them a disgruntled lot wondering why on earth they are there for.
The Indian leaders since time immemorial prefer to read out their speeches which are drafted out by eminent people, checked for any grammatical mistakes, but are often riddled with some absurd words and sentences which do not synchronize either with wit or common Sense.
In 1947, Nehru roared from the ramparts of the Red Fort with some of the most insuating words ever: ‘’At the stroke of midnight hour when the world sleeps, India awakens to freedom’’. Perhaps the erstwhile PM or his over ambitious ghost writer got his geography all wrong and thought that the World is flat and every country woke up and slept at the same time.
Come Independence eve, the president arrives with a zombie like expression armed with a pre drafted speech laden with quotes ,self congratulatory messages, some absurd commitments /welfare measures that fail to take off , so on and so forth. All the TV channels are forced to broadcast this miserable display of word power that is hardly understood by the common man. The studio is decked up for the occasion and the President is more interested in displaying or showcasing her/his well Starched and well ironed attire.
The only exception to this strange practice was President Abdul Kalam who was both convincing and astute in his presentation.
We also have this moron of a Foreign minister who has made himself a laughing Stock in front of the dignitaries of United nations Security Council when he unassumingly picked up a paper belonging to a Portugal diplomat lying beside him and calmly read it till he was interrupted and intimated about the faux pas by a colleague.
Yesterday this very Foreign Minister requested Pakistan to release a prisoner serving a life sentence, on humanitarian grounds.This was made in complete ignorance of the fact that the so called prisoner is currently lodged in Ajmer Jail and not in Pakistan.
Honestly I presume the right hand of this guy doesn’t know what his Left hand is doing.
Most of the political parties have self-appointed spokesmen specially designed to brief the media , to calm down frayed nerves and to protect the party’s image when the going goes rough.
The crux of the matter is: It is fascinating to watch the debate involving the western parliamentarians who display shrewd technique and restraint while handling even the most complex of issues and possess immense knowledge of the related subject as compared to the hooliganism and immaturity displayed by their Indian counterparts.

Oily Issues

The Indian shores particularly the western part of it is in the News again for all the wrong reasons ,of course. Merchant Vessel- Rak capsized some 31 nautical miles off the Mumbai Coast on 3rd August 2011.The Ship is leaking crude at the disastrous rate of about 1 to 2 tons every hour. The high tide coupled with the choppy monsoon conditions hastened the Oil Slick to Juhu , Versova & Madh Islands.
The fishermen community has already sounded alarms and blasted the slow and lackadaisical attitude of the Govt. agencies viz. the ever sleepy Coast Guards and the almost defunct Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.
The Navy which boasts of having acquired sophisticated gadgets over the years has time and again failed to locate the drifting ships or even plug the leaking vessels prompting people to cast apprehensions on these so called security agencies who might well be novices in using /handling the sophisticated arms and security gadgets.
This incident comes barely weeks after the Merchant Vessel – (M.V. WISDOM) which had drifted from the Gulf state of Qatar and settled itself on Juhu beach.
On 7th of August 2010 there was a collision between MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia near Mumbai which destroyed tonnes of precious marine life and uprooted huge tracts of Mangroves so essential to maintain the fragile ecological balance.
There were talks of taking the owners of both the ships along with the captains to task and recover the damages. It is likely that an ‘’OUT OF COURT SETTLEMENT’’ was negotiated and the culprits were allowed to go after greasing the palms of the authorities.

The Navy and the coast guard doesn’t believe in rescue operations but can only indulge and limit itself to salvage operations. They wait aimlessly and shamelessly to let the ‘’event’’ happen and then rush in to clean the muck.
It was evidently known during the rescue operations conducted on M.V. RAK, that the ill fated Vessel was carrying Crude/diesel /coal and impetus should have been given to block the Oil-Slick and restrict it to a limited area.
The callous attitude of all, be it the Govt. agencies, the navy, the Coast Guard and others is deplorable to say the least.
The damages for restoring the partial ecological balance should not only be recovered from the Ships owners involved but also the Coast Guard and the Navy for negligence that defies logic.
It is also quite possible that many ships (mostly registered in Panama) are on their last voyage and are deliberately drifted in this part of the Ocean saving the tugging costs up to Alang -Shipyard in Gujarat, where ships are broken down after its seaworthiness is over. The Ship Owners are fully aware about the lax in intelligence and obsolete security measures prevailing in the region making their task even simpler to carry out.

By the time you read this scores of marine species would have been exterminated from the Arabian sea , the beaches have been rendered unsafe, livelihood of innumerable fishermen has been put at stake and the rapidly dwindling mangroves snuffed off in double quick time, but who cares?
This careless and arrogant attitude coupled with lack of responsibility is primarily responsible for many forgettable incidents that have happened in our Country.