Jaygovind Sahu

Recently I was appearing a quiz on Netaji Subhash Bose. I am a big fan of him. He is one of those characters, those heroes, in the fight for freedom of our country who chose to stand tall in his ideology and stand firm against the English empire. From what I know about the hero, I feel that he is one of those human beings who knew how to convert imaginations, dreams and thoughts into actions. He was one of those freedom fighters who thought that their first duty was to get their motherland the freedom it deserves. After the ten-question quiz I felt like I should google a bit about him; I have always been very fascinated about this master of disguise, the mysterious hero, the courageous fighter. Then I came across this interview of his daughter Anita Bose-Pfaff where she answers the question – “Why did Mahatma Gandhi not support him?”

In some ways they were of (the same) opinion. In other ways they were not. In the 1930s Gandhi clearly worked against him. Very often Gandhi is portrayed as a saint, which he was not at all. In my opinion he was a very shrewd politician. He was a lawyer who really knew how to work the system and manipulate people in a positive sense. He certainly made my father resign as Congress president. My father respected him very highly in spite of that and was always anxious to hear Gandhi’s reaction to what he did and what he said. It was my father who called Gandhi ‘Father of the Nation.’ The INA slogan ‘Jai Hind’ is still the greeting used in the Indian Army today; my father picked the Indian national anthem. It was first played in Hamburg at a gathering. So there are still a few symbolic remains from his activities in India which people tend to forget. Gandhi and my father were of the same opinion regarding the partitioning of the country. Both of them were dead set against it and in some context my father said, ‘The British will try to partition the country.’ He and Gandhi were very much against this.

Complete interview : http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/may/11inter.htm Read the rest of this entry »

There is a dialogue (perhaps the last one) in the movie ‘Marley & Me’ which I really liked.

How many people in the world can make you feel extraordinary?

We dream of being extraordinary; being a rock-star, being a super-hero or may be being a celebrity with millions of fans no matter what we really are. We dream of driving the crowd crazy with every gesture we make. Then there are people who prefer being in the crowd in those dreams of ours. It’s our family and our loved ones who make us feel extraordinary.

A child’s first step to walk and the first attempt to speak a word – for parents these moments are just priceless. The moment we are born, their dreams are ones to fulfill ours, their needs are the wants of ours. The first sketch that we make is the finest art they have seen. When we get a prize, they feel like the winner. Fallen from bicycle, injured with a cricket ball or crying because your favourite team lost a match, they are always beside you. It’s nice to be loved. It’s nice to find people around who really care for you. But, what happens to people when it’s their turn to try and pay a fraction of what they got in return?!

I remember an evening in August (last year), when I was in front of a super-market waiting for something I had ordered in the food court nearby. I felt a gentle tapping on my shoulder. I turned back to see an old lady who must be in her late 60s, actually trying to stand tall. She looked at me and asked with a smile and respectable dignity – “Can you please help me reach there so that I can get a place to sit somewhere?” My reflex was – “Yes, of course…”. She started walking with me, with her hands on my shoulders, to the nearby exit gate where there was a place where someone could sit. I could feel her hands trembling, and that she should not have been there considering what her health permits her to do. Read the rest of this entry »

The Jungle Book, Malgudi Days, TeleSpin, Duck Tales, Alladin, Chandrakanta, Three Stooges, I Dream of Jeannie, Dennis the Menace, Shaktimaan – These are the few TV shows I can recollect I have grown up with. With time the flavour of the TV shows and soaps have changed significantly and in a way that can not be easily comprehended. To conclude whether the overall change in TV viewing is positive or negative may be a difficult task even for the accomplished critics.

The TV channels have come up with new and newer technologies to give the viewers improved visual experience. At the same time, many channels, which are supposed to be providing information, try providing cheap entertainment which results in meaningless air. Many shows, which are supposed to be providing light family entertainment, provide stupid stories to fool fools. There are popular (and very popular) daily soaps which in fact don’t have any kind of story in them (it is completely my perception ). But, everyday they try to put something interesting for their dear viewers. May the content be stupid, what matters is the TRP. There are so many people in our country who like those kind of shows. The characters and stories in the serials are sometimes the topic to discuss in parties and all. The marriage of the lead character in a serial takes thirty episodes which includes two episodes when she is upset with her hair-style. A character who plays a mother looks much younger than his daughter. And above all… you can never be confirmed whether a character is alive or dead; never when it is a lead character. Even after getting a bullet in the forehead a character gets well with minor memory problems. Read the rest of this entry »