Independence Day - The Times as It Looked on August 15, 1947

The Times of India has brought out a supplement which is what the newspaper's edition on August 15, 1947 looked like, when India gained independence. The layout is black and white and basic, the content is of a bygone era of letterpress typesetting and the ink has run on the pages giving it a blurry look. 

Inside the pages are a revelation. The accompanying photographs shows how India looked like at that time. Bombay included a major part of Gujarat also. Uttar Pradesh was United Provinces. Bandra had a separate municipality. And, please see the advertising, which is a revelation. "Girls' dainty art silk frocks," goes one ad. 

Loved the idea. Thank you Times of India.

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Shammi Kapoor - The Farishta from Heaven - Rest in Peace

Shammi Kapoor R.I.P. There was a time when people said there were three schools of acting in Bollywood (the name came later, those days it was Hindi Films). One was Dilip Kumar, the second was Dev Anand and the third was Raj Kapoor. However, I think they forgot the fourth - Shammi Kapoor, maybe, because he was part of the Raj Kapoor family. Shammi Kapoor had a distinctive acting style which was copied later by his nephews Randhir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor both sons of Raj Kapoor. Most aspirants to stardom in those days copied Shammi Kapoor rather than Raj Kapoor. Even Randhir and Rishi said that they were more proud to say they were nephews of Shammi than sons of Raj. Even Anil Kapoor's style reflects on Shammi Kapoor. Anil is Shammi's cousin Surinder's son.

Well, he is no more. Shammi, wherever you are, you will be missed. In those halcyon days my friends were crazy about Shammi and whenever there were re-runs of "An Evening in Paris" in Natraj, Sahakar and Basant in Chembur we would go to watch it. My friends have seen the movie around 40 times each. Such was the craze for his movies for fans of his. He was the eternal loverboy wooing his love on the slopes of the hills of Kulu, Manali and Darjeeling, he was the one on the helicopter who would woo his woman surfing in the sea below, he was the jocular nice guy playing pranks, and all these he did with consummate ease. 

I guess in those days we had good Bengali directors, good Bengali music directors and singers and good Punjabi actors. They made for great screen chemistry. "An Evening in Paris" was directed by Shakti Samanta - a Bengali. Once the Punjab da puttars and others took over film direction our industry suffered. I may be wrong, but that's a very biased opinion of mine. I would like to be proved wrong. We have no Bengali directors left in Bollywood, nor do we have Bengali music directors and singers. What a loss! We need our Bengali intellectual-artists back to pep up whatever is left of the glorious Hindi film industry which is currently in the throes of too much vulgarity and tripe. I hate to sit through even a single movie without being driven to tears of boredom. The story doesn't exist and there is no co-ordination in anything. 

What turned out as an elegy for Shammi has turned out to be a tirade against the Hindi Film industry. Well, Shammi-ji your memory will stay with us as we watch endless re-runs of "Aasman's Se Aya Farishta."

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Etiquette for Air Travellers - 3

This is the last post, promise, absolutely the end. All these have been witnessed firsthand by yours truly, so am sharing. So here goes ettiquette for air travellers, Indian especially:

Thou shalt leave women alone. I know in the rarefied atmosphere male libido takes flight. But desist! There's this Malayali minister who felt up a co-passenger on a flight and has therefore become a joke in Kerala. The woman knew who he was, his status, his power and lodged a complaint. Now people look knowingly at him everywhere he goes.

Thou shalt wash and brush and apply deodorant even though it's the 3 a.m. flight. Thou don't-est knoweth who mightest be sitting-est next to thou. It's could be Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra, or Preity Zinta. (I am just guessing!) So please don't smell like a cow that has been grazing in the pastures and sleeping on it's on refuse.

Thou shalt not put your feet on the seat before thou and push it's occupant thinking it's a soft cushion kept there as your footrest. You may get an irate sleeping man throwing dirty looks at you all through the flight. If he is an Indian underworld don on the flight to Bangkok, Malaysia or Dubai - their favourite haunts - you may even get bumped off once you disembark.

Thou shalt not push others with the trolley hoping to get ahead in the rush to the check-in counter. With women's liberation ladies protest too much, especially Indian ladies.

Thou shalt not ask for napkins to wipe your dirty face because being budget airlines, they charge even for putting your bag in the overhead bin (Rs 200) and closing it (Rs 100). If you ask for pillow and blanket it will be Rs 1000. Hold on to your thirst and hunger: who wants to have tea costing Rs 2000 and coffee costing likewise? Food is out of the question. That's how they make money, you see, from these little tit bits.

Thou shalt not snore or drool on thy neighbour's shoulder. If it's a woman prepare to be slapped and shaken awake 30,000 feet above the ground and told, "Ghar mein maa bahen nahi hai kya?" (Don't you have mother and sister at home?)

Thou shalt not speak to failed stars of Bollywood sitting next to you. If you do be prepared to hear things like, "Karan-ji, was so nice, Yash-ji was also very, very kind, you know, Steven Spielberg-ji is casting me in the next Indiana Jones film as his snake-charming rope-trick-man." Also, "I am on twitter and facebook, you know. Please look me up and become my fan."

Guess that does it! Hope you liked it. Do write in if you did and didn't.

Please also read my train commuting ettiquettes here and here.

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Etiquette for Air Travellers - 2

Continuing my etiquette lessons for air travelers.

Thou shalt not make a ragged crowd near the entrance and exit. Seeing as we Indians are poor followers of the queue system (What "Q"? It was invented in India. So why do we have to follow it, tell me, hahn?). Woh tho firang log queue lagatey hain. (It's foreigners who follow queue.). For us a queue is a "Q" meaning we stand in a circle in the shape of a "Q" and talk, talk, talk, about our "paltics" and usually the person who boards first is the man who is at the tail end.

By the same corollary though shalt not jump over thy aisle-seated neighbour when accessing your window seat. Bad manners!

Thou shalt say and "please" and "thank you" when the hawai sundari brings you pillows and blankets and food and despite the cramped space will not try to brush her a little, and will say "sorry" if you do.

While disembarking thou shalt do as said in the first etiquette in this compilation. You will also beat up whoever sidles up to you and asks to get into "Q" with you and ask him "Baap ka raaj hai kya?" ("Is it your father's kingdom?)

Thou shalt not spill tea, or ketchup on the, whatever thingy is in front of you which is for your eating pleasure. Because if you do the hawai sundari will throw the emergency door open and dispose of you into the Indian Ocean below. Sorry, nothing of that sort will happen, though she might look at you as if she would do just that.

I am sleepy, virtually drooling on the keyboard. See you guys with more etiquette for air travellers tomorrow.

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Etiquettes for Air Travellers

Still facing a drought of topics when I chanced upon one more set of etiquettes. Since there is a probability of air travel in the near future I will write here about etiquettes for air travellers, of the Indian variety:

Thou shalt not travel like you are shifting house. I know it's your holiday and you need a lot of bedding, pillows, badminton racquetts, extra food so that you don't starve. But please, please don't carry with you stoves, pails for water, chairs, and other paraphernalia. For goodness sake it is an aeroplane you are boarding not a ship crossing the seven seas.

Thou shalt arrive in time and only crowd around the airline counter when your flight is announced. Please read the thingammajig for the flight announcements, better still listen to the announcers. They are trained to entice you with their voice.

Thou shalt not try to jump the queue, anywhere. Please don't make a beeline for the airline counter saying you are late and need to catch this flight or you will die of cerebral hemorrhage. We are mortals and have been patiently waiting for our turn.

Though shalt not carry oversize bags in the cabin, because, most Indians travelling in economy class being obese these days a poor thin chap like me get perfectly obliterated. So, have mercy!

Thou shalt not bang the overhead bins open and shut as if it were your father's property. Have some consideration. Or, ask for help from the trained hawai sundaris (air beauties).

Thou shalt not wander about the aisle showing how macho you are. We know you are macho from the bulge in your pectorals and biceps, so don't block the aisle when people are boarding the flight and finding their seats.

There's more to come in the next installments.... So have patience.

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Nothing to Write About, Except Badminton

Usually I am full of topics to blog about. There are at least four or five subjects I would love to blog about circling inside my head, begging me to develop it into something meaningful. However, today I have nothing, absolutely nothing to blog about. I think I have reached a trough in this blog. Will it go on? I think every writer feels it some time or the other, this lack of subject to write about, this emptiness. 

Speaking of emptiness Hemingway wrote (I searched and didn't find a reference anywhere on the net, so it could be one of those Internet hoaxes) he felt empty after writing, neither happy, nor sad, like after having sex. That's Hemingway speaking, not me. At least, a fake Hemingway, for all I know. You can't do it all the time, so you have to save yourself, marshal the facts, develop the ideas, gather, gather, gather, before you sit down to pen a few words each day. 

I think that's what I would do. Lay my pen down a bit. Or, give my fingers a bit of rest that it has been craving. Sometimes, I get these cramps in the fingers, I had shoulder pain also, before I started playing badminton, that is. Now that is gone. The sport invented in India which has the shuttle whizzing around the ground keeps me fit. It's a good sport and my sporting companion is my friend Henry and a young chap named Rainier (nice name that) who lives near where we play.  

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

"Kallu Kudichal"

Saw parts of a Malayalam movie Oru Small Family. It's about the ills of drinking.But, in a round about, vacillating sort of way. Now Kerala is a state that has a serious drinking problem, as I have written here. It has gotten so serious that people, when they don't have time to sit and drink, go straight to the cashier asks him for a "Nilppan" (meaning something drunk while standing) downs it in one swig and walks out. Of course, he pays the cashier-cum-bartender. Believe, me the problem is that serious! But instead of dealing with the problem the film endorses drinking. At least, the part I saw does. 

In Kerala "Small" means "drink." "Small adikkuka" means have a drink. So, in this instance "small family" means a "drinking family" where everyone drinks from the grandfather to the women and children. There's a song which goes "Kallu kudichal, ellolam illa kallam," something like it. Which means if you drink there isn't a grain of falsehood. I mean, how can a film promote drinking in a state that has millions of broken families because of drinks? Or, was the film made in a drunken haze? I don't understand it even a bit.

I remember seeing an interview with K Babu, the excise minister of Kerala. He said the government is establishing more "de-addiction centres" in Kerala. So, the government is doing something great, isn't it? First it makes a lot a money from taxing liquor and then establishes de-addiction centres. Instead of that why not put some breaks on drinking itself? Come on, are you being real? Are you being sincere Mr. Minister? 

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

The Phantom Phone Hand - Do You Have It?

Heard of the phantom hand?

That's when a man whose hand has been amputated feels as if his hand exists and performs functions as if his hand (the absent one) still exists. 

Now here this: there's something called the phantom phone hand. Fast company has this article on this phenomenon.

That's when we reach out to our mobile phone to check a short message or email when it is not there. I have seen plenty of such weirdos in the train, constantly checking their phones, talking continuously, not being able to control their impulses.

Must say I have felt it too. But I have fought this urge with all my will. Nowadays, I ignore my phone and don't answer calls if it is after 9.30 p.m. I guess nobody has the right to disturb my privacy after that time. Unless of course it is a close friend or family. I think we must draw the line somewhere.

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia Is Going to Be the World's Tallest Tower

Kingdom Tower being planned in Saudi Arabia is going to be the world's tallest tower and is planned to stand 173m higher than Dubai's Burj Khalifa.

Reminds me of the multinational company I worked for Taylor Woodrow International, which built the tallest tower in Jeddah around twenty years ago (twenty years, my God!), which is actually the world headquarters of the Islamic Development Bank. I don't know how time filed past the gawping me so quickly. Nothing done, nothing achieved, all my dreams in tatters, all my aspirations broken. I am tired and weary. Gone is the innocence, gone is the ingenuity.

I wish for those days to come back to me, even for a little while.

Jeddah, where I lived for nearly a year, is a quiet city compared to Bombay and, cleaner. I loved to roam its downtown shopping area on my weekly holiday - Friday - looking into shop windows and enjoying the cool breeze from the Red Sea.

Am nostalgic for those days!

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Adil Jussawala on Indian Writers in English (IWE)

The following is written about Indian writers by poet and writer Adil Jussawala, whom I admire for his erudition (I grew up reading his learned essays, mostly in magazines like Debonair, which was supposed to be for intelligent males and had lots of pin-up girls. I don't know if it [the magazine] exists anymore.):

The resilience of individual writers has helped them survive the worst shocks of history, and there's nothing so bad about the situation in India that will silence its writers permanently. But if Indians who write in English don't normally consider it important to produce novels of social history or write poetry that fully confronts the social and political realities of their time—despite their real admiration for such work from other countries—there must be a reason—perhaps several reasons—and I think it's important to examine them. Some of us, certainly, are going through a crisis which is making us question the validity of our work and our usefulness as agents of social change. Now, more than ever before, we are unsure of ourselves as witnesses. Far from helping to change the course of history, we are finding ourselves its bullied victims. It's as though History had become the Englishman in Victor Anant's novel The Revolving Man, telling the writer, as the Englishman tells the novel's protagonist, "Spin, you Hindu bastard. Spin!" And the bastard goes on spinning.

I read this and weep. Truly, we, Indian Writers in English (IWE) do not change the course of history, we are its bullied victims. If we speak out frankly against the shortcomings of our own society we are maligned, beaten, threatened, derided, abused, laughed at.

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.