The Spittoonji

The man standing in front of me is chewing something, lost in his own world. You can tell that he is enjoying the taste of whatever he is chewing at. His facial expressions show eternal bliss as he silently goes on his own trip, you feel that it must be something very intoxicating. And suddenly he arches his back with the grace of a ballet dancer, throws back his head, his eyes closed, his face most grotesque, as the bright red liquid mixed with his own saliva, is expelled from his mouth and making the most perfect curve, it is splattered on the nearest wall with fine droplets forming a beautiful design on the wall. And if the wall has been white washed, the design looks exquisite. That, my friends, is the fine art known as spitting , in lay man terms.
Now this fine art is in danger of extinction, what with the government banning it from public places in India. It comes at a time when, it was on the verge of getting maximum votes as a new Olympic game so that the Indian sub-continent can be given a fair chance at winning some serious metal. After all, all the sports in the Olympic games are originated in the European continent, though the country, Greece, where they originated eons back, is no longer among the top medal winning countries.
I had a dream...an Indian player of this sport is standing very confidently, paunch and all, but otherwise with a slight body frame, among the Chinese, the Europeans, the Africans at the spitting range of the next Olympics. Among the competitors', is a competitor from the other sub-continental country too, who the Indian knows as his closest competitor and who alone challenges him in this new sport. Paan wallah bhaiyas' sits in front of each competitor, a paan in their hand, in the pose of offering the paan to each competitor, at the sounding of the 'start' siren. The faces of the Indian, the other sub-continental guy and the very competitive Chinese player, are dribbling with red saliva, which has formed a permanent red scar from near the corner of the mouth going down towards the chin. You can tell from this sign, how many hours of practice, these competitors' have undergone. And as the siren goes off, the competitors' accept the paans from the eager bhaiyaas,  they then  arch their backs, throw back their heads, their faces grimacing from the efforts, as the finely chewed red liquid escapes their mouths and shoots off towards the target, a freshly white washed wall with the bulls eye painted. Suddenly the stadium watching this newly introduced sport, erupts with joy, as the Indian is the winner, with his entire spittoon hitting the bulls eye, closely followed by the other sub-continental guy, who has won the maiden medal for his country and the Chinese has come a close third. In fact, the Chinese is so near that he is sure to be a big threat to the Indian and the others from the sub-continent, in years to come. Less said about the Europeans , Americans and  Africans, the better, since they had to forfeit their deposits, since their spittoons' either fall on themselves, and more seriously, on the judges of the competition. The competitor from Great Britain is a commendable fourth, since he is quite well versed in sub-continental matters, due to obvious reasons.
But alas...my dream remains a dream due to the cruel hand of fate which snatches away the last hope in the form of a ban on this great cultural heritage of the sub-continent.
Yatindra Tawde

The craze for Harry P.

The craze for Harry P.
I think I am writing this a little late in the day since the craze for Harry Potter is now a few decades old. My childhood was enriched by comics of Phantom, Mandrake, Superman, Richie Rich, Little Lotta, Dot and many Amar Chitra Kathas. And for reading, there was the good old Enid Blyton and her five friends. And who can forget the adventures of Tintin, and Asterisk and the friendly Gauls. But everything pales in comparison to the craze of Harry Potter and his adventures and friends.
I was introduced to the world of Harry Potter by my daughter, Gauri. The first book came into our house when she was in 4th standard, maybe. And then a custom got established in our house; buying the latest Harry Potter novel as soon as it hits the book house. We always encouraged the reading habits of our daughter, since it was much better than whiling away the time in front of the TV set or the computer screen. Each new book release was awaited by her with bated breath. And when finally the book entered the house, she entered a world of magicians, magic spells, Hogwarts, Quidditch (hope I have captured the correct spelling) and the different adventures which our Harry Potter got into, along with his numerous friends. Dumbledore and his antics brought great fun to her world. I am sure, same was the case in many of your homes. And once the film franchise started, suddenly the imaginary world was revealed in great colour to the bachcha log and their parents, who let their inner child escape, to enjoy the spectacle on screen. Till today, anytime Harry Potter and his assorted adventures are running on any channel, the remote is firmly in the control of our daughter.
I think what J.K. Rowling achieved by unleashing the magical world cannot be described in a few sentences since she created a world, which was innocent but at the same time, enjoyable and mysterious but never overly frightening. A world to which, the maximum children were attracted all over the globe and enjoyed by the grownups as well. She managed to create a parallel universe where the children can go without fear and soothe their study burdened stressed minds.
Yatindra Tawde

A Human

A Human
Humans started out like any other mammal. Their days started with thoughts on how to survive the day. Like a carnivorous animal, a human had the option to hunt for his food. Or he had the option to pick fruits from the trees and have his fill, like the herbivores. And he also had to protect himself from the bigger carnivores. But he was different from the others. He was a thinker and he could communicate his thoughts better than the other animals. He deduced quite early that individually he was weak, his hands and feet alone could not fight nor could he give chase to his prey. So he started working in teams and making arms which could be thrown at the prey. The arms started from the very basic ones like stones to sharpened ones like spears. The first great revolution happened when he could start and control the fire. Meat cooked over the fire not only tasted better but it was better digested too. And then one day he thought of growing his own food by planting the edible fruit and vegetable bearing trees and crops. This was bad news for the other animals since now humans started clearing the forests for growing trees, which could feed mostly himself. Once he started agriculture, his need for migration to other places in search for food, also stopped to a certain extent. Since water was his other need, he started settling near water bodies like rivers. Now he had the two basic necessities like food and water near at hand so he started building more permanent structures for sheltering himself from the elements. If previously he was killing animals only for food, now he started killing them for covering himself and his dwellings. His weapons became more advanced since he did not like to venture very far from his dwellings. Bows and arrows started replacing basic weapons like spears'. As more and more dwellings increased and number of humans in any one place increased, it became necessary to have basic laws in place. Once laws were put in place, someone was needed to enforce those laws. Policing was needed but the police started becoming too powerful and started taking undue advantage of their position. Hence a need arose to have a authorative person, who could police the police. Thus arose the position of the chief who presided over and gave orders and settled disputes. The chief had power but this was envied by other ambitious persons in the closed settlement. Ambition, greed for power and easy availability of weapons was a powder keg for conflagration. People started killing people for achieving positions of power. A comparatively sedentary lifestyle resulted in increase in the population for whom the existing resources were in a shortage. And such settlements were all across the earth's face. Communication between the settlements increased and chiefs started coveting the perceived riches of other settlements. This resulted in raids being conducted on other settlements. Raids took the form of battles and battles took the form of wars. Winners of such wars were drunk with power and they wanted to keep on winning. Their egos exhorted them to keep attacking other settlements and bring new territories under their control. For this they needed better weapons than their neighbouring settlements which led to further developments in weapon technology. Bows and arrows were developed into cross bows, and many other weapons were developed which enhanced the reach of destruction causing and killing abilities. To further enhance his speed of reaching the other settlements, humans made use of the fastest animals, the horses. Thus was born the cavalry. It was a mean war fighting unit, and the armies having more such units and the best units were more often than not, winning the battles. Asia had a unique animal, the elephant, which was the tank of the olden times. It was used to charge at, and scatter the enemy army. But after a while, both opposing armies started having these weapons of war and were equally matched,  and something was needed to tilt the balance of power. Some thing which could be used from afar to cause maximum damage. Thus developed the gunpowder and cannons. Varieties of firearms were developed, major development of the same took place in the European countries. They also developed a water based armada and were hence successful in reaching all corners of the world riding on the oceans. When they reached the other parts of the world, they found different cultures which were very unlike their own and having many chieftains' who managed their own kingdoms and who were very rich. Goaded by the riches on offer, the Europeans,  on the pretext of helping them, followed the policy of Divide and Rule to perfection. And due to their better discipline and superior firepower, they ruled over vast swathes of land, thousands of kilometres away from their own homeland.
During war time, man was happy killing man whereas in peace time, the animals were threatened. Man was on a adrenaline rush, to satisfy which in peace time, he hunted animals just for fun. While the carnivorous animals hunted to fulfil their basic need for food, here was a man who hunted without any other reason, but for his selfish enjoyment. This resulted in many species disappearing from the face of the earth and this was the result of the firearms which were under the control of man. Thus maximum damage to the animal world happened in the centuries 1800's and 1900's. At the same time , many indigenous cultures disappeared too, again due to the trigger happy man, whether in the Americas or in Australia or New Zealand or in Africa.
While all this was happening, the industrial revolution too took place. While this resulted in great progress, the general laidback lifestyle deteriorated into a mad rush to fit into the rat race. The air as well as water pollution exceeded all limits and over the years global warming threatened 1/3rd of the world's population.
There were great advances made in the atomic field giving many benefits to mankind, but then man spoilt it all by developing the atomic bomb which had great destructive capabilities and then man was foolish enough to use it. Today man has got the capability to destroy the earth more than 100 times over.
Today wherever you go, you are surrounded by the concrete jungle and man has gone too far from nature. That is why when you get even a acre full of natural surroundings, you feel rejuvenated since you feel your return to where you, or your ancestors started from, in the first place.
Man has now played around with nature for too long and since he feels he is the ultimate creation of God, he goes and does what he feels like. He has been a creator, a preserver but finally he is going to be the destroyer of this life giving planet.
So live life in the present without worrying for tomorrow for you never know, when the time is up!
Yatindra Tawde

Seekers

Seekers of the world

Since time immemorial, humans have always sought a higher presence. A God. Humans were convinced that all the natural occurrences were only possible if there was someone to control it. Humans saw the skies and they saw the Sun moving across the sky, thus it was the Sun God who was imagined to be riding across on his white steed in a golden chariot. In the night, they saw the moon and the stars and they imagined a moon Goddess being chaperoned across the dark sky by a procession of star maidens. During rainy season they saw heavy rains and thunderstorms striking the earth and imagined an angry rain God with his thunderbolt who needed to be appeased. Every night they saw the same patterns of the stars and imagined a Supreme Being who held the stars in their positions. The stormy seas took the form of  a Sea God who needed to be appeased by suitable sacrifice. They must have witnessed  meteorites hitting the earth, thus a stone was prayed to since it came from the heavens. They saw that  anything thrown up being pulled back to the earth thus earth was a goddess to which her children were always pulled into a loving embrace. Thus humans were mystified by all the things which are now explained by the different laws of physics and they were always seeking that Supreme presence or God in various idols, places of worship and in Air, Water and the Earth.

Now, it seems, people only seek Pokemons. Why this trend started, no one knows, but someone is certainly laughing all the way to the bank at the expense of these seekers. Till this game was introduced, all the computer games were either played within the four walls of the house or the game parlour. Gamers turned addicts, playing for long hours sometimes at the cost of all other activities. Many of these games were violent war games and people who played them resembled zombies in their demeanours. This was all set to change once Pokemon Go was introduced since it forces the players to seek these Pokemon characters in the outside world. This game forces the players to walk since one never knows  where the next Pokemon character will pop up from. The game uses the GPS of a normal smartphone to show the surroundings on the phone and bang! A Pokemon pops up on the screen to be captured. And these Pokemons are hiding everywhere, I understand, in India they are to be found in temples, gyms, libraries, et al , they are everywhere. In short, they used to say God is everywhere, but for the new generation, the Pokemons are everywhere.
The difference is, you seek God but you hunt the Pokemons. So the guy or a gal who have never been to a place of worship before, now goes there for a Pokemon hunt. A guy who has never cultivated a reading habit or has done no research but he now goes to a library to catch a Pokemon. A gal who doesn't exercise, will now go to a gym to grab a Pokemon. So the all pervasive Pokemon has captured the minds of the younger generation to make him go where normally, he will not have gone. I can already see tech savvy criminals hacking into this game to lure vulnerable youngsters to come to pre designated lonely places to exploit them. While tour operators will start Pokemon capture tours, instead of hiking expeditions. Children who take such tours will not see or admire nature on such tours but will just stare at their respective screens searching for the elusive Pokemon.
Now God only can save the humans from this Pokemon nonsense.

Yatindra Tawde

Comedies down the decades

Comedies down the decades

I have seen many publications come out with list of comedies down the decades , in Bollywood. And some of these lists were made up of downright bad movies. So I decided to come out with my own list of Bollywood comedies. So here goes my list -

1) Chalti ka naam gaadi – a hilariously funny movie where the three Ganguly brothers , Kishore, Dadamoni and Anup had us in splits with silly antics. The songs are still sung today with my eternal favourite, “ek ladki bhigi bhagi si” being the best. Listen to the unabondoned laughter of the ethereal beauty, Madhubala, before the lilting song, “ haal  kaisa  hai janab ka”. You will fall in love with that laughter itself. “Paach  rupaiya baara aana” was mad. And the scene where Anup Kumar goes through the contents of a ladies purse and screams, “kartoos” on seeing a lipstick, is one of the many defining moments of the movie. Surely no. 1
2) Half ticket – another Kishore Kumar gem of a movie.  A totally hilarious movie which was Kishore Kumar through and through. Non stop laughter from start to finish. And the songs with “Aake seedhi lagi dil pe” sung by Kishore Kumar and…Kishore Kumar in drag!. No one can touch him when he sings like this .
3) Pyaar kiye jaa – it was a comedy Jugalbandi between Mehmood and Om Prakash, with the iconic hilarious scene where the character played by Mehmood narrates a ghost story to Om Prakash with all the sound effects given by Mehmood. Great reactions given by Om Prakash. This scene was later enacted in that iconic comedy Marathi movie, “Dhoomdhadaka” where Laxmikant Berde and Sharad Talwalkar did it equally effectively.
4) Humjoli – Starring Jeetendra along with Mehmood, this was another film where Mehmood overshadowed the main hero. The highlight of this movie was Mehmood playing three generations of a son , his father and grandfather and enacting all the quirky characteristics of the Kapoor khandaan. Sooper!
5) Bombay to Goa – Amitabh Bachchan! and Mehmood, what a combination. Super road trip made memorable by their antics. “Dekha  na hai re socha na…” , a great trip song
6) Padosan- a truly evergreen comedy and it was a great team of Mehmood, Kishore Kumar, Sunil Dutt and very well supported by Saira Banu, which made the movie a memorable experience. And the songs were whackily humorous too. “Ek chatur naar…” , what can one say about this song, the mad lyrics, the energy of the actors, the picturisation, one can go on and on. R. D. Burman at his best in “Mere samne wali khidki mein” , just listen to the music piece at the starting of the song. “Meri pyari Bindu” , Kishore at his naughtiest…Great movie, superb music…
7) Chupke Chupke – “T O to hota  hai..toh G O gu  kyun  nahi hota” and many such shudh Hindi dialogues made this movie a craze for comedy lovers. Great acting by Dharmendra, Amitabh, Om Prakash and ably supported by Sharmila Tagore and Jaya, this one was a laugh riot.
8) Amar Akbar Anthony – This movie of Manmohan Desai was not really a comedy but then there was Anthony bhai, who was hurt and drunk and watching himself in the mirror, he treats himself and treats us to guffaws. Tremendous acting by Amitabh…
9) Golmaal – The original Golmaal with Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt in pivotal roles was a laugh riot which can be enjoyed even today. Ram Prasad and Laxman Prasad were a treat to watch, Amol Palekar excelling in this role. The songs, “Golmaal hai bhai sab Golmaal hai” and “ane wala pal jaane wala hai” were gems.
10) Choti si baat- Again great acting by the common man, Amol Palekar who plays a shy accountant trying to impress Vidya Sinha and he gets love lessons from Dadamoni, unique. Do note those lessons if you want to impress someone
11) Baawarchi- Rajesh Khanna at his best in this movie which was a real life lesson. He enters a joint family with ulterior motive but gets involved with the small joys and griefs in the family and brings them together.
12) Namak Halal – “ke pag ghungru bandh Meera nachi thi”, “aaj rapat jaye toh hamen na uthaiyo”, great singing by Kishore Kumar and Amitabh in great form. Listen to his live commentary to Ranjeet…
13) Chasme Baddoor- a laugh riot with three totally different room partners, the sane and shy Faroukh Sheikh, the mad Ravi Baswani and the funny Rakesh Bedi and Deepti Naval in an endearing role. The scene where the three friends brag about flirting with her when all three are funnily rejected is one of the highlights.
14) Angoor- Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma in double roles, double the confusion and double the fun. A very cute Moushmi Chatterjee played the role of the suspicious wife to the tee.
15) Do aur  do paanch – goofy antics by the team of Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor as they try to fool the other. Superbly funny movie.
16) Jaane bhi do yaaron- a fun fest from start to finish, Ravi Baswani again, this time teaming up with Naseeruddin Shah, it was one funny scene followed by another. Nobody played a dead man and was so endearing as Satish Shah, right from the time when his body is found in a coffin to the encounter with a very drunk Om Puri, who mistakes the coffin for a car, to the scene where everyone is running in all directions with Satish Shah on skates, one could go on and on. “Thoda khao thoda pheko” is a funny episode but the climax is truly and fully paisa vasool with Satish Shah standing motion less and with a blank expression wearing a saree and Om Puri as Gada dhari Bheem is wickedly funny blanking out Yudhishthir with a swing of the mace. A cult movie like this can be made only once…
17) Govinda – the movies of Govinda were funny with Govinda brand of expressions, Govinda brand of dancing sometimes supported by Kader Khan, sometimes Shakti Kapoor, sometimes both and sometimes Jonny Lever. Hero no. 1, Coolie no. 1, Aunty no. 1, Jamai babu, Dulhe raja, one could go on and on
18) Badshah- a hilariously funny movie with Shahrukh Khan and Johnny Lever at their best. It's almost always on some channel or the other and has become a repeat value movie
19) Andaz apna apna- Another cult movie starring Aamir Khan and Salman Khan and Crime  master Goga, Shakti Kapoor. Paresh Rawal in a pivotal role made this movie a must watch then and is a must watch now.
20) Isha- Though this was not a comedy movie but the first half was hilarious due to the antics of Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla, Deven Varma and Razak Khan. See the scene where Aamir Khan walks on pipes on top of the building and his prayer goes from “Ram Ram…” to “Mara Mara…” when he looks down from the great height. Another memorable scene is the one in the mall involving Deven Verma and Razak Khan
21) Judwa- total paisa vasool from the team of Salman Khan and David Dhawan with great support from Karishma Kapoor
22) Hera pheri- this movie belonged to Baburao, Paresh Rawal and one of the first comedies of Akshay Kumar, the old telephone instrument played a pivotal role on which wrong numbers were common. Great acting by bad man, Gulshan Kumar too and again Om Puri had a great role here. Again the climax of the movie is madly funny where a team of Sardars come to the rescue of the protagonists. First comedy hit by Priyadarshan.
23) Phir Hera pheri – Another laugh riot by the team of Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Sunil Shetty though helmed by another director, Neeraj Vora. Great performances from main cast as well as Rajpal Yadav, Ravi Kishan, Johnny Lever, etc. made it memorable.
24) Priyadarshan- The Director went on a comedy making spree, and almost all his movies like Malamaal weekly, De dana Dan, Bhagambhag, Bhoolbhulaiya, etc. were very enjoyable
25) Chup chup ke- you cannot control yourself from laughing, especially the first half is too humorous, with Rajpal Yadav, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri and Shakti Kapoor in great form. The entire sequence of events when Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav and Shahid Kapoor make an entry into the wrestling Gujarati  joint family of Om Puri, the various tasks given to Rajpal Yadav and  Rajpal Yadav trying to break a fortified roti, the events generate non-stop laughs.
26) Dhamaal – A silly story of 4 friends , it was laughter  a minute with an endearing cameo by Marathi actor, Vinay Apte as a South Indian. Another' highlight is the aircraft scene with Asrani and Vijay Raaz excelling.
27) Golmaal (Rohit Shetty) – the part 1 was the best of the franchise. Again a story of 4 friends where the mute Tushar Kapoor excelled with his dialogue delivery , ahem…
28) Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munnabhai – What a great conceptualisation by Rajkumar Hirani and lovable roles of a benevolent bhai played by the goofy Sanjay Dutt and the endearing sidekick Circuit, played by Arshad Warsi. This was Hirani’s way of giving a social message in a palatable bottle. Great roles played by Boman Irani in both.
29) Welcome- Superbly funny movie with Nana Patekar, Munna Anil Kapoor , Feroz Khan’s last movie was extremely funny. One of the best movies of Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal.
30) 3 idiots- wholesome entertainer, Chaturlingam’s speech was one of the highlights and the movie was out and out funny experience. Repeat watch will never diminish the entertainment quotient of this movie. Great acting by the entire cast. Tohfa kubool Kari Jahampanah
31) Chennai Express- though this was a Shahrukh Khan movie, helmed by Rohit Shetty, it belonged to Meenamma, Deepika Padukone. One of my favourites and a visual delight.
32) PK – That man, Raju Hirani again teaming up with Aamir Khan, this movie tried to give message to the viewers, that not all Godmen are men of God. It had typical Hirani brand of humour and became a big hit.
33) OMG – the film belonged to Paresh Rawal and again this movie too, was about so-called God men and their shenanigans to keep the crowd in their fold by hoodwinking them.
34) Piku – A totally different motion filled movie. As Amitabh said, “Emotion se hi motion Banta hai”. A very beautiful movie about a cranky father and his equally cranky daughter, played by Amitabh and Deepika and ably supported by Irfan Khan.

Yatindra Tawde

Lonavala vignettes

Lonavala
It was not my first trip to Lonavala but was certainly the best. This was the first time that I spent more than one day there and there was no other agenda, than to enjoy with family and cousins. And of course, the rains!!! Lonavala, in any other season, may have lost its charm, due to rampant construction but Lonavala in the rains continues to be a big draw.
We started for Lonavala in the afternoon, about 2.30 pm. on Friday. Myself and the wife, both took a rare leave from our respective offices. A leave from the office is rare enough, but both taking a leave on the same day is a further rarity. Daughter was anyway on leave so we had no worry on that front. It had been a great build up before we embarked on the trip since all the cousins were excited due to the fact that,  this was a very first planned trip when 6 families had coordinated to make it happen. Last minute instructions were exchanged on what to carry and the precautions to be taken, due to rain, were fired off from all directions so that everybody was well aware when finally the D-day arrived. As always we made our way through the traffic slowly, till we reached the Mumbai Pune Expressway, and then we just took off. Of course, the rains were our constant companion, sometimes pouring and sometimes just making its presence felt on the windshield.
Finally we reached Khandala exit, from where we left the express way. After many years, I had entered the narrow roads below the express way and I enjoyed driving on the nearly empty roads. From khandala we proceeded towards Lonavala and on reaching the Kumar Resort, took a right turn to still narrower roads. The winding roads went on and on, and finally we reached our destination, an old Parsi bungalow. I parked the car in a marshy slushy land opposite the bungalow and carrying our assorted luggage, went inside the gate. An old imposing stone structure welcomed us. Later we came to know that it is @135 years old and the furniture inside too, was of a bygone era. Made of the finest teak, the design was old world. You could make out that the bungalow had seen some of the most elegant and monied masters in the past. The dining table stretched from here to eternity, I had only seen such long tables, either in movies or in palace museums. And what can one say about the mounted wall clocks, each one exceedingly majestic, but alas, none was working. We were happy to meet all the cousins after a long time and the small talk and discussion in the wide varandah, stretched into the evening. The kind caretaker gave us steaming hot tea accompanied by the tastiest garam batata bhajis and Kanda bhajis. Evening time saw us having a long walk in the inner lanes under a clouded sky accompanied by a drizzle which sometimes hurried across due to high winds. As it got stronger, we hurried back to the bungalow to take shelter under the warm but humid walls. And then the stories and gossips stretched into the late night to the accompaniment of ekach pyala which were repeated innumerable times. The night time was quite scary in that old bungalow but since all were tired after a long day, everyone had a peaceful sleep. All the while, the rains did not let up, heavy rains  tapering off to a drizzle and vice versa.
The next day started quite early with everyone enjoying a hot cuppa tea with some khari biscuits. The caretaker cooked up steaming poha with egg omelette for those with a non-veg bend of the tongue. A few of us went to the market to buy Coopers fudge which is a speciality of Lonavala along with Maganlal chikki. We reached a little early and whiled away our time by walking through the market area, shopping for delicious guavas and expensive tomato, cucumber et al. As we, once again reached the Cooper shop, we were surprised to see a queue outside the closed shop waiting for the fudge to arrive. It was later that my cousin told us, that this is an every day phenomenon in Lonavala, such is the craze for the fudge among the tourists. Anyway , we were successful in grabbing our pound of the fudge and returned back to the bungalow with gleaming but wet faces. The talkathon sessions again commenced and culminated with a housie game which was enjoyed by all. But the highlight of the afternoon was certainly a dumb charades game, the youngest member being the star performer, the enthusiasm and energy displayed by her, captured everyone's heart. After a late lunch, most proceeded for a light siesta. All this while the sound of raindrops on the wet lawn outside was a constant backdrop.
Evening time was dedicated for a temple visit and every one started in their cars but we had not factored in the heavy traffic which arrives from both sides, Mumbai and Pune, towards Lonavala. After getting held up in this traffic for a few minutes, we made our way back to the bungalow. A walk in the rains was a perfect antidote, and all had a fun time getting fully drenched in the heavy downpour under heavily overcast and misty skies. The mists coming from all directions is certainly a sight for sour eyes and a soothing balm for weary souls getting away from the pollution laden fogs of the overcrowded cities. A very drenched but happy group then made its way back to the bungalow followed by an encore of the previous night.
The last day, which was Sunday, dawned and everyone got busy preparing for the return journey. All had totally enjoyed their brief stay in the mountains. But all had to make long journeys to their home cities hence left early, after a sumptuous breakfast of upma and omelettes. But once we reached the ghat section while coming back to Mumbai all the regrets of returning to the daily grind, were thrown out of the window, since the panoramic sight of heavy rain in the mists was visible on the wide canvas created by God. We stopped awhile by the side of the roads and then proceeded on our journey, after getting our fill of the clean, pollution free air.
Yatindra Tawde

 

The Victory

The Victory

It was a victory that  changed Indian cricket permanently. And it was certainly unexpected. No one in their right senses gave any chance to India. India was expected to be a team to be rolled over. An easy picking for the champion teams like West Indies and Australia. But one man thought differently. Kapil Dev !!

 Kapil Dev had come into the Indian team as a breath of fresh air. He was a fast bowler. Till he came into the picture, the role of an Indian fast bowler was always to take the shine off the ball so that the main protagonists, the spinners could take centre stage. And the Indian spinners always hunted in quartets. The quartet of Bedi, Chandra, Venkat and Prasanna were spinning wizards who weaved a magical web around the most accomplished of batsmen. But their wizardry was majorly confined to the test matches. And they were certainly a misfit in the fast world of one day cricket which required much better athleticism from the players. And another requirement was that one day cricket required better batting abilities which non of them possessed. And one day, in strode a tall, lanky and somewhat gawky lad from the interiors of India. People went mad over his out swingers and cutters. A unique action, which was a feast for the eyes, enabled him to fool the best batsmen of the era. Suddenly India had a cricket star who was also an athlete of the highest order. In an Indian fielding team which just ran behind the ball till it crossed the boundary, here was a fielder who did not think twice before throwing himself at the ball to stop it in its tracks. And in one fluid motion the ball was back into the gloves of the wicket keeper, due to his powerful throwing arms. But what endeared him to the masses of India, was his six hitting abilities. When the other Indian batsmen were the epitome of defence, here was a batsman who regularly plonked the ball out of the ground. A star was born! And ladies loved his toothy grin.

Shortly Kapil Dev was the captain of the Indian team which was put together for the World Cup 1983. It consisted of consistent proven performers like Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Yashpal Sharma, but the backbone of the squad was a man called Mohinder Amarnath. The quintessential comeback man, he had turned into most consistent batsmen scoring in almost every match he played. Sandeep Patil, another of the Mumbai boys, he came into the team on the back of ferocious knocks in domestic cricket. He was known to deal in only fours and sixes, making his batting style a best fit for one day cricket. And Kris Srikkanth! He wanted to hit every ball out of the park. He complemented the cool and calm Sunny Gavaskar, his fire and brimstone approach to batting, an antithesis to the purity and correctness of Gavaskar. Though Ravi Shastri too was a part of the team, he did not play a big role in the World Cup. His moment of glory was meant to come two years later, in Australia. Syed Kirmani was the wicket keeper, he had been serving Indian cricket for quite a while, and he was a handful with the bat. In the bowling department, other than Kapil Dev, the others were not at all in intimidating. Not much was expected from the likes of Madanlal, Roger Binny, Kirti Azad and Balwinder Singh Sandhu. But under the overcast skies of England, which helped swing bowling, they were going to prove everyone wrong.

India reached the final but no one gave them a chance against the Clive Lloyd led mighty West Indies. Mind you, India had defeated them in the initial rounds but this was treated by everyone, including some diehard Indian fans, as a flash in the pan. But the turning point was the match against Zimbabwe. It was a crucial match for India to reach the semifinals. But India started disastrously and soon were 17/5 . With the entire top order back in pavilion, the Captain Kapil had only the wicket keeper, and the bowlers like Binny for company. First they steadied the innings and then the captain just blew away the Zimbabwe attack to score world record  highest score of 175 not out. It was an innings which made everyone sit up and take notice. Indian cricket was catapulted into a different league then onwards and now the Indian fans actually started dreaming of the cup.

The finals started and within no time the ferocious fast bowling quartet of Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Michael Holding and Andy Roberts had blown away the top half of the Indian batting lineup, with the only resistance coming from Srikkanth and Amarnath to some extent. That India managed to reach 183 was due to contributions from the lower order. But with the likes of Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards and Lloyd himself followed by Gus Logie and Jeff Dujon, this total was way below mark. Or so it seemed…

The first blow was given by the innocuous bowling of Sandhu. Greenidge shaped to leave the ball but it curved in to peg back the off stump. One down! Then King Richards walked in and went about destroying the Indian bowling and it seemed as if the match would get over shortly. Madanlal came on to bowl and Richards saw some easy pickings. Going for the maximum, the ball ballooned into space. Kapil Dev ran back for eternity, and in one fluid motion he had his man. Every Indian in every corner of the world was jumping with joy and the moment arrived when Holding was out leg before to the great Amarnath. Within seconds, the great Indian diaspora had run on the field to congratulate the team which ran with stumps in hand towards the pavilion. The toothy grin on the captains face was wider and in a few moments he was holding the World Cup in his hands.

Indian cricket was never going to be the same again!! Our tenth standard exams were over and this was an icing on the cake.

Yatindra Tawde