Sweetest Dard e Dil-li :))

A few hours more than twenty-four spent in the wintery warmth of Delhi were very special and extremely emotional as each passing moment connected family fragments in a happy reunion.
The platform was cold, foggy and dusty at about noon as my younger son and I alighted from the comfortable confines of the airconditioned compartment of the train that brought us from Lucknow to New Delhi.

The morning I spent in Delhi was invitingly sunny and the fragrance of nostalgia filled every little space around me. As my son navigated his way expertly through the majestic blocks of Connaught Place, I remembered the time, not so long ago, when I used to take the children around these very exquisite corridors during our winter holidays in Delhi...shopping, eating and having so much fun.

Commuting in those days used to be a nightmare in Delhi. But now the Metro is amazingly swift and convenient. We had to buy a couple of things before reaching my cousin's place in Jamia Nagar. Having done that we got on to the Metro. Everything perfect so far. But within a few minutes of being in the Metro my son realised that his wallet was missing.
The money he was carrying and his cards were gone....and we were like, "Oh! My God....what are we going to do now???!!!!!!!"

Frantic calls to get the cards blocked were made simultaneously as trying to get an FIR lodged for the missing things. Then a visit to the nearest branch of our bank to arrange for cash. All this took up most of the afternoon.

At my cousin's place everyone was waiting over "lunch". When we finally reached her place tucked away from the hustle and bustle of a polluted over-populated Delhi, the sun had already begun calling it a day. We were all ravenously hungry. Freshening up was hurried. But the sumptuous supper that followed was deliberate, lazy and so completely engrossing. Endless cups of tea and an unending chatter came to a halt as tired bodies succumbed to the coziness of luxurious silk razais in a room filled with the fagrance of affection and fondness.
After a comfortable night, morning came rather gradually and indolently as the Sun fought its way through the stubborn fog.

For the "breakfast" at another cousin's place at Akbar Road, we reached half an hour before noon!
The vastly spread out green lawn was filled abunduntly with the reclining rays of the Sun, mellowed in intensity as if shivering in the face of a bully called Winter!!!
The paradoxes of the morning were no less amazing as freezing arms bonded in warm embraces, and in the biting cold of the North we relished steaming hot idlis, dosas and sambhar perfected with rich authentic aroma of the South.
As the Sun spread its rays over the plentiful flower beds there was colourful resplendence all around.
We were in another world, where no dust, no pollution and no frosty feeling could ever reach...

Dev Anand: 1923 --- forever

Sunday 4th Dec.
I was getting ready to go to a place that, to me is as dear and sacred as any place of worship. 

Whenever I pass Mehboob Studios I have this craving to go inside and pay my respects to all those wondrous men and women whom I've revered like prophets of Art and Creativity. 

But apart from my uncontrolled craze for Hindi films, there was nothing else that could possibly justify my presence at that monument which is symbolic of a glorious era Bollywood itself perhaps longs to go back to.

But the previous day, Saturday, 3rd Dec had been astounding. 

I had actually walked past the gate and strolled around that extraordinary palce, where Bollywood History was shaped. 

Films like "Mother India" and "Guide" were nurtured. Sheer nostalgia it was. And I did not want to come out of it.

Times Literary Carnival was an absolutely gratifying experience. Quenching the thirst for good poetry and prose were Gulzar Kalra, Swanand Kirkire, Anurag Kashyap, Kabir Bedi, Fatima Bhutto, Mohammed Hanif.

One was almost spoilt for choice and so I will not even count the presence of the likes of Shobha De and Suhel Seth and many others !!!

Sunday was going to be interesting too. And I did not wish to miss even one session. Swallowing my dry toasts with tea, I switched on the television to catch the morning news just before leaving. 

And that was the end of my Sunday plans ...

Time suddenly froze. 

Nothing seemed to matter.
Just a stoical numbness took over me as the news reader announced Dev Anand's death.

I was being made to realise that the man who symbolised every beautiful colour of life, and most importantly life itself, was no more.

I sat glued to the television, not wanting to miss even one alphabet of the words being spoken. There were the reactions of people from the Industry trickling...and a little later pouring in.

Shekhar kapur said "We talked of him as if he'll live forever....may be he will!"

Anand Mahindra said, "As long as Dev Anand lived, I though I'd live too..."

Rajnikanth said, "We salute your zest for life and spirited energy for work..."

Hema Malini said:"Seeing him work was like taking a vitamin tablet."

Manoj Kumar recalled how well behaved, honest and thoroughly well-bred Dev Anand had been. Sharing with the viewers the time when his father's death had traumatised him deeply, Manoj Kumar said that Dev Saheb would come to his palce every evening to cheer him up for more than a month.

Waheeda Rahman, while remembering Dev Anand's generosity, said, "The most important film of Dev's life, "Guide" was the story of Raju, The Guide, but he made sure that Rosy (Waheeda Ji's character) was in no way over-shadowed...such was his stature and so secure he was as an actor."

Times Now had done an exclusive interview with Dev Saheb just before his film "Chargesheet" was released. Also they had done a "Total Recall" on him. They kept playing those tapes in between. And I for once completely agreed with Arnab Goswami that it was a complete honour to be in Dev Saheb's presence.

He was right there reliving his life's endearingly precious moments, sharing his incredible energy, his youthful intellect, his infectious vivaciousness with his fans, and very interestingly remarking:
"If you take someone else's idea and do a song or a film, you instantly become second rate. I cannot live like a second rate, therefore all that I do is my own creation. Good or bad, it is original."
He also said:
"After I make a film I don't talk about it....I let the world talk about it!!!"

Talking of "Hum Dono", "Guide", "Hare Rama Hare Krishna", Guru Dutt, Navketan, Sahir, S.D.Burman ... and so much more ... there was always that enthusiasm around him which like a sacred halo made everything shine with his light.
Only for a fleeting moment did his face betray him.
It was when the song "Gataa rahey mera dil..." was played and Arnab asked Dev Anand what the song reminded him.
He started saying everything from how beautiful the song was, how they had waited for Dada Burman to recover from an illness and then compose it, and how RD had composed the mukhda before the older Burman could do the rest of the song.
But the deepest feeling of pain he wanted to escape.
In vain, he tried hard to let go of Vijay Anand's memory. But sometimes even the best of eefort is not enough.
So finally when he did speak about Goldie, the pain could not be contained within. His eyes had a far away look, as if he could see Vijay Anand when he said,
"I remember Vijay Anand, who is no more ... he was a great director, a great maker ... a great companion ..."

But the very next moment he was back with the mask of happiness swaying his head to the eternal "Main zindgi ka saath nibhata chala gaya ...", saying "I salute Sahir! He gave me this incredible philosophy of life ..."Main zindgi ka saath nibhata chala gaya ..."

But I think the song that would suit his life more, and which in my opinion is an extension of Sahir Saheb's philosophy is Shailendra Ji's all-time classic "Din dhal jaaye, raat na jaaey ... "
I feel it is a song that has sadness, longing, pain ... and yet a peaceful acceptance of facts that times gone by are gone for good ... so let go, let things be... and so the sadness does not sadden you ...... great words, awesome music ....

Dev Saheb, in his own words, was forever learning and growing ... So how can he ever cease to live ... ?
A man who never paused ... a man who worked tirelessly, the only actor who lasted more than five decades as a leading man ...
He must be celebrated ... because he was life personified ...

But rest he must ... now that God has so willed it for him ... Rest in peace Dev Sahab ...
Don't worry ... your unmatched melodious legacy lives on ...

Rishtey

Kuchh rishto'n ka koi naam nahi hota
Shaaed koi matlab bhi nahi hota

Kyon judtey hain, bikhartey hain
Socho to samajh kuchh nahi ataa

Bass wo hotey hain....
Har pal, har saan's ke saath

Aur unn ke honay se....
Hota hai zindgi  ka wajood 
Be-maani se palo'n ko mil jataa hai matlab jaise
Lamha-ba-lamha aati-jaati saans'on ko mil jaati hai dhadkan jaise...."
(Shazi)