Devdas turns 100.....

Yes, the most remembered and the most liked character from the  

screens of our sub-continent, 'Devdas has turned 100'. Bengal's most respected novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay created this character exactly 100 years ago (1917) in his ever-green novel 'Devdas'. Since then 'Devdas' has become the most filmed (16 times so far) non-epic story in India, Pak and Bangladesh.  Every time this story is made in to a film, it has charmed the audience and has become a super-hit! What may be the reason? 

Does everybody in this world see 'a bit of Devdas' in him and therefore likes to see his reflections again and again on the screen? Does Devdas touch the hidden sentiments of the most at least once? Let us examine........

Devdas (published 1917) is a Bengali romantic novel penned by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (1876-1938). His other well known novels include Parineeta, Majhli Didi, Swamy, Choti Bahu, Apne Paraye, and Khushuboo which have all become well known Hindi films. 

Devdas - front cover with its author

Devdas (Dev) is a young man from a wealthy rural Bengali family in the early part of 20th century. Parvathi (Paro), the little girl from same village is his childhood friend. This childhood friendship slowly blossoms in to a romantic relationship as the two grow up. Sumithra, Paro's mother proposes to marry Paro and Dev.  Dev's parents turn down the offer as Paro's parents are poorer. Paro musters courage and approaches Dev asking him to take her away.  At this stage Dev fails to rise to the occasion and backs out fearing his father's wrath. He irresponsibly runs away to distant Kolkata without telling Paro and later in an act of self-deceit writes to Paro saying they were only just friends and nothing more.  Paro's parents take all these developments as an insult and vow to marry Paro to a richer family. Eventually Paro's marriage is settled with a much richer Zamindar.

 Just before her marriage, fickle minded Dev comes to Paro and offers to take her away.  Paro, now asserts and chides Dev for his cowardice and vacillation.  But emotions continue to carry between them.

Disappointed Dev meets his old friend Chunnilal who takes her to Chandramukhi, the dancing sex worker.  Dev starts drinking heavily.  Chandramukhi falls in love with Dev and starts dedicating herself to him.  Dev, obsessed with Paro's memory,  once again errs by refusing to respond to  Chandramukhi's love and conducts himself very rudely with her. 

By the time Dev realizes the virtue and the intensity of Chandramukhi's love, it is too late.  Due to heavy drinking and despair Dev's health deteriorates beyond cure.

Dev, who is now only counting his days runs to meet Paro.  But Paro is prevented by her husband's family members from meeting Dev .  Dev breathes his last in front of Paro's doors!

Of course, Dev's acts of dilemma should also be viewed in light of the social customs and practices prevailing at his time. But Dev had chance to come back to life by owning up the genuine love of Chandramukhi.  Also he should have pursued his family profession of  Zamindari with responsibility.  But he spurned both these options and chose to rely on heavy drinking leading to self-destruction. Thus he is an example before modern youth of how not to conduct oneself!

Full credits to the great novelist  Sarat Chandraji for creating such a character which is so near to life.  During last hundred years, generations of audience have felt and wept for Devdas, resulting in outstanding blockbuster dramas and movies!

Great actors like K.L.Saigal, ANR, Dilip Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan have felt honored on being offered to play the role of Devdas.

Probably the role of Devdas was made for the veteran actor Dilip Kumar.  He has added a new dimension to the role under Bimal Roy, the great director.  Sharukh Khan had the privilege of watching and even copying Dilip Kumar when he donned the role during 2002.

Among all attempts to showcase the great novel, which is the best? Comparisons are bound to be made.  K.L.Saigal and Dilip Kumar's Devdas are said to be very close to the original novel.  Arguably the credit of best version of Devdas goes to Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB), the director for his epic effort during 2002.

'Extravaganza, thy name is SLB' is a gross understatement. And the best example for this among his gems is Devdas (2002).  Probably Sha Rukh, Aishwarya and Madhuri have played the roles of their lives in this film.  But what is noteworthy is SLB's deft twists and turns given to the original story itself.

Probably the most touching scene of Devdas (2002) is when Paro meets Chandramukhi seeking Devdas.  This is simply SLB special which is not there in the original novel. 

Paro (Aishwarya) looks to Chandramukhi (Madhuri) with  doubts and alleges she is hiding Devdas.  Emotional Chandramukhi asks Paro to go and see inside her dance court, but Paro fails to find Devdas.  Chandramukhi virtually opens Paro's eyes when she says....'if you look through your eyes, Dev is not there.  If I look through my eyes, Dev is very much there!  I can find him in those half-filled glasses, cigar-butts and scattered pillows!'  Relieved Paro now feels that Dev is safe in Chandramukhi's hands.  Paro further collects 'Tawaif ke ghar ki mitti' (mud from a sex worker's home) from Chandramukhi for making Durga idol.  This is another commendable addition from SLB, which is an honor extended to 'tawaifs' only on the occasion of Durga Pooja in Bengal.

Also in SLB's Devdas, the duo between Sumithra (played by Kiran Kher), Paro's mother and Kaushalya (played by Smita Jaykar), Dev's mother  is a newly added feature. In the original novel, both these characters are quite weak ones.

Both the artists, Smita (left) and Kiran have poured their hearts out in playing their roles to perfection.

SLB's Devdas is well supported by haunting music composed by Ismail Darbar. The film also served as the perfect launch pad for the 

budding singer Shreya Ghoshal, who is now probably the youngest of all living legends.  Each song in the film is heart-touching and a super-hit.  Compared to this although for Dilip Kumar's Devdas (1955) the music is scored by S.D.Burman the great, songs are just okay, but none of the songs are remembered today.

Lastly, characters like Devdas, although just fictional, will always remain close to our hearts.  Even with changing times such characters remain relevant.  Times may change, people may change, but human emotions and its vagaries remain the same. That's why critics say that characters like Devdas are for ever!

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Thank you for reading.  Please give your valuable feedback right below.  Alternatively you can please mail me at klakshminarayana1956@rediffmail.com. Mobile No.098455 62603

Teachers' Day Greetings

If the people remember me as a good teacher,  that will be the greatest honour for me

Abdul Kalamji

Kalam speaks to his spirit!

(My pictorial poem as a tribute to the great man on the occasion of Teachers' Day)

               O my spirit, stop nowhere! 

                Sea shores soared your ambition  

               Struggle kindled  your vision     

                 Mosques and temples tempered your mission.

O my spirit, stop nowhere!

Quran and Gita mingled in your veena

Music and mantra embedded in your tantra

Spirituality guided your Science.

O my spirit, stop nowhere!

You rose like a  missile

Agni was not a mere name

it was your nation’s fame.

O my spirit, stop nowhere

You saw rise and rise, you saw fall and fall

Success has many fathers, feather  them

Failures are orphans, father them.

O my spirit, stop nowhere!

Earth shook under your feet

It was atom power

Compassion shook your heart

Was it ‘atma’  power?

O my spirit, stop nowhere!

Elevation to power, not for ever

Ignite minds, fire wings

Sow dreams

Man goes, but his mission continues!

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Notes: 
1) Agni is the name of the missile designed by Kalamji

              2) ‘You saw fall and fall’ refers to a Kalamji designed  satellite that failed during 1979.

              3) ‘Earth shook under my feet’….these were  his words when he carried Pokhran -1998

                       Nuclear explosion.

              4) Ignited Minds & Wings of Fire are two books authored by him.

5) 4th item (down-right) of the last picture is the last moment of Kalamji when he collapsed addressing students at Shillong on his last day.

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I am happy to present you the pictorial poem I have composed as tribute to the great man on the occasion of Teachers' Day. 
Your comments are most welcome.

Lakshminarayana K

Manipal Academy of Banking

Bengaluru

Our Europe tour

I am glad to inform you all that I had the fortune of going on a tour of Europe along with my dear wife Smt. Anasuya, from 16th July to 3rd August 2017 (17 days). We had chosen Bharath International Travels, Mysuru, Karnataka as our trusted tour operator.  I would like to share my tour experiences through this blog.

1.Conquest of London:
Our tour commenced from London. I had my childhood (since 1967) dream of visiting the famous
                                       
                                 

Lord's Cricket Stadium fulfilled.  The thrilling sight of the picturesque field made me reminiscent of our Indian team's famous World Cup victory during 1983.  I could also recall our great batsman and the Lord of Lord's,  Dilip Vengsarkar scoring 3 consecutive centuries in 3 appearances here.  But Tendulkar, the great  and even Sunil Gavaskar could not score a century here!

Trafalgar Square (see above) was interesting as we came to know that the square commemorates the victory of British over French, led by Napolean, the great.  Even today this place is the most preferred spot for celebrating great British Victories. Tower of London, the historic royal castle which is presently a museum for British royal dynasty possessions was one more place we visited.

England queen's Buckingham Palace disappointed me as I could visualize that it is a poor second when compared to our Mysuru Palace. Similarly we visited Madam Thussad's wax museum wherein we had pictures with our famous icons like Einstein, Amitabh, Modiji and Tendulkar.  But I could remember the lesser known Sunil's Celebrity wax museum near Lonavala, Pune which is by far a better one.  But do we care to value our own pride possessions?

London eye (huge giant wheel across the river Thames)  which provides us an aerial view of entire city was an exciting experience. Similarly we felt emotional on seeing Basava and Gandhi statues near the Parliament square.

2.Paris, the city of Love!
I and my wife felt emotional on reaching Paris (travel through English Channel and Bus) as it was the place where our son Dr.Subhash lived, studied and secured his doctorate.  It is also the place where he found his life-mate Ms.Gayatri. As per many including my son, Paris is said to be the best city in the world to live and also is the most visited city on this planet.  Reportedly 8 crore tourists visit this city every year!

Eiffel Tower is the symbol of Paris standing on the bank's of the river Seine.  It is named after its designing engineer Eiffel.  The steel tower was built during 1887 to celebrate 100 years of French revolution.  It stands 324 meters tall and we could reach its top to have an aerial view of the city.

Louvre Museum, Paris (see Pic above) is said to be the second largest and the most visited museum in the world.

Highlight of Louvre Museum is the painting of Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.  But compare this to our woman-with-the-lamp painting by S.L.Haldankar (on the right) at Sri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery, Mysuru and decide for yourself which is a better one.  Watch the glow of lamp on the saree and the shadow behind the lady!  Is it not marvelous?

Nothing much to write about Paris Palace. One can see below the marvelous  picture of  Triumphal Arch (1806) built to commemorate Napolean's victories wherein 12 main roads of the city converge.

 Disneyland on outskirts of Paris too is a an enjoyable experience.  We were also taken on a cruise ride on the river Seine to have a night view of the city.

3.Beauty of Brussels, Belgium

We can be seen here in picture with Atomium, a monument commemorating a major Science event held in the city earlier.  The atomic structure behind is interesting.  Each of the modules (spherical in shape) of the atomic model is said to be containing exhibitions and interactive displays related to science.

The 'Grand Place' of Brussels which encompasses the Royal Palace, City tour hall and the Museum of Brussels is an exciting place to visit.

4.Holland, the land below the Sea level!

Certain pieces of land in Holland (also called Netherland) are said to be below sea level in this country and hence the name 'Hallow land'. Holland is known for dairying and wind-mills. Amesterdam, its capital is the world's most famous flower market!  Madurodam in Amesterdam, the miniature park which contains replicas of famous Holland landmarks is a great tourist attraction.

5.Germany, the home of top brand cars!
Germany is an automobile giant and the home of tops car brands like BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Opel.

In Germany we visited the Heidelberg city.  On the back of the picture above one can see the famous Heidelberg castle.  This is the city where tennis super-star Steffi Graph spent most of her childhood. The city boasts of a famous University which was established during 14th century.  Cruise ride on river Neckar at St.Goar was exciting.  We also visited the famous Cathedral (Church) at Cologne. Then we moved to the picturesque Black Forest of Germany which houses the manufacturing centre of the world famous Cuckoo clocks.

6.Switzerland, the heaven on earth!
We commenced our journey of Switzerland by visiting the famous Rhine falls.

Titlis mountain (10,623 ft) in the Alps range is a major tourist attraction.  We went on top of this mountain with the help of the Cable car.  During evening we visited the Interlaken city which is a favorite location for shooting of Bollywood films. We can be seen below with the statue of Yash Chopra who picturised his famous film DDLJ and many more films here.

Probably the greatest attraction of Switzerland is the JUNGFRAJOCH (11,333 ft) which is the topmost spot in Europe. (see below).

We reached the top with the help of the train which runs through several tunnels over exciting range of hills and valleys.

Here I have tried to compared the two beauties of nature....Switzerland and Jog falls. Has not God blessed our country too at par with Swiss?.......... You be the judge!

7.Is Austria more naturally blessed than Switzerland?
It apparently looks so.  In Austria the mountainous landscape keeps changing every 20-30 kms adding to the beauty of nature.  May be for this reason Austria is the house of winter sports for the entire world.

Austria is also famous for its rich classical music.  'yodelling' while singing has originated from Austria.  Kishore Kumar could sing yodelling successfully.  Remember the famous song 'Zindagi ek safar hey suhana' from the film Andaz!

Austria is the home of SWAROVSKI, the world famous manufacturers of artificial crystals.  The picture above is a location related to Swarovski Crystal Worlds museum.  The museum was built in 1995 to celebrate 100 years of the company.

Innsbruck, Austria is a famous sports centre.  We can be seen above in front of the Golden roof completed around 1500 AD which marks a royal wedding of the rulers of Austria.  The city also contains a grand 18th Century Church called the Baroque Cathedral.

8.Slovenia, famous for Postojna Caves!
Ljublijana, the capital city of Slovenia is famous for St. Nicholas which has the grand bronze door.
Slovenia is also famous for Lake Bled, which is famous for water sports. See picture below.

Postojna cave a limestone cave created by Pivka river is 24 kms. long and 400 feet deep. One has to go inside the caves on a specially designed open train and then by foot to witness the breath-stopping natural formations of limestone all along.  This natural wonder is only seen to be believed. See picture below.

But even in India one can see such Limestone caves.  There is one such cave near Bhopal.  One more such cave I have seen on Araku Hills, near Vishakapattanam.

9.Italy, the seat of  Roman Catholic Church
After Slovenia we moved to Italy, the country having highest number (53) of UNESCO recognized heritage sites.  Probably the greatest of them all is the Colosseum at Rome.  (see pic below).

Colosseum is an ancient sports stadium built by Roman Kings about 2000 years ago.  Even the world's greatest modern cricket stadium Lord's has a capacity of 30,000 whereas this ancient stadium has a capacity of 50,000! The mansion is built using concrete and sand!  One of the seven wonders of the old world, the Colosseum is still in presentable condition!

We entered Italy through the city of Venice, which consists of 120 artificially created islands.  The city does not have roads and the popular mode of transport here is Gondolas (Boats) and we had the privilege of the Gondola ride all through the city (see Pic below).

Venice is also the seat of Saint Mark's Basilica.  Basilica is a special Roman catholic church in which the various religious rites are performed by the holy Pope.

Our next stop in Italy was Florence, the home of many masterpieces of great renaissance artists like

Micheangelo.  One of its iconic sights is the brick-red tiled-dome cathederal (Church) which can be seen in the aerial view above.

When we reached the city of Pisa, I remembered the popular 9th standard Physics text picture of the Leaning Tower of Pisa (see Pic below). It is one of my old memories when I had dreamt of visiting

the monument one day and it took nearly 50 years to realize it.  This monument is a perfect example for the concept of 'centre of gravity' as propounded by the father of Physics, Issac Newton.  No item on the earth will fall down as long as its centre of gravity stands supported!

The site of Leaning Tower consists of four monuments.  Leaning Tower itself is a bell tower which stands 184 feet tall and was built about 700 years ago. The other monuments are a Church, a Baptistery (for baptising young children into christianity, something like our Upanayanam) and a Cemetry (burial ground).

The last city we visited in Italy was the holy city of Rome, the only city in the world which houses an independent country within its corporation limits. Vatican city state within the city of Rome is an independent country with a population of about 1000 spread over just 110 acres. This smallest country of the world is headed by the holy Pope himself!

Vatican city houses the famous St. Peter Basilica (see Pic. above) which is regarded as the mother of all catholic churches in the world. This church is said to be the burial site of Saint Peter, one of the direct disciples of Jesus Christ and he is also the first Pope.

Vatican city also consists of the famous Vatican museum (see above)  which has a display of more than 20,000 arts works and paintings created by Renaissance period artists like Michelangelo.

Yes, Europe is blessed with gifts of nature like mountains, rivers, lakes and caves.  Europe's history is also very rich leaving behind great monuments.  But our own country India too is equally blessed and great!

While European countries are able to create a 'brand' out of their tourist attractions and attract the entire world with their top class infrastructure, our Country is lagging behind on both these counts. All of us are stakeholders in 'brand India' and we all have a role in building this great brand!

                                 Long live Europe! Long live India!! Long live our mother earth!!!
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Kabaddi comes calling!

Can a native Indian game blossom in this Cricket-mad country?  Can hundreds of crores be spent on players auction outside cricket? Can a rural Indian sport attract foreign players to play in its teams? Do our super stars from films, cricket and industry come forward to sponsor teams in a game other than cricket?  Can a village sport born and brought up exclusively in India knock the doors to be included in Olympics? Yes........all these revolutionary developments can happen only in India,,,,,,, in our own Kabaddi, Kabaddi, Kabaddi!

Kabaddi is a rural Indian sports.  But it has now hit the top of the world! India is the reigning world and Asia champion!

Kabaddi is said to have originated in India even before Mahabharat times.  Guru Drona is said to have designed 'Chakravyuha' by suitably adopting the Kabaddi tactics. Modern Kabaddi is said to have originated from  the villages of Punjab.  The game further evolved in Maharashtra.  The title 'Kabaddi' is said to have originated from the Tamil word 'kai-pidi'.

Kabaddi is the national game of Bangladesh.  India introduced Kabaddi as a demonstration game in Berlin Olympics during 1936. Kabaddi was introduced in to Asian games during 1990 and since then in both men and women formats Gold medal is won by India.  Kabaddi world cup started during 2003 and since then India is the champion.  Very soon Kabaddi will hit Olympics too!

Pro-Kabaddi League (PKL) , the IPL-cricket version of Kabaddi was started during 2014 and in the ensuing  5th PKL-2017 set to start from 28th July 2017, 12 teams are set to participate. Team ownership has seen investment of hundreds of crores attracting celebrities from different fields.

• Sachin Tendulkar owns Team Tamilnadu
• Abhishek Bachhan owns Jaipur Pink Panthers
• Team Uttar Pradesh is owned by GMR group
• Bengal Warriors is owned by Big Bazar group
• Team Gujarat is owned by Adani group

Top 5 expensive players in Pro Kabaddi 2017 auction include..........

1.Nitin Tomar -     93 Lakhs - Team UP

2.Rohit Kumar -    81 Lakhs - Bengaluru Bulls

3.Manjeet Chillar -75.5 Lakhs - Jaipur Pink     

   Panthers

4.Surjeet Singh -    73 Lakhs - Bengal Warriors

5.Selvamani -         73 Lakhs - Jaipur Pink 

   Panthers

  

Let us recapitulate some technical aspects of this exciting game.

There are 7 players on either sides and the game unfolds by raids.......one player goes to the other court chanting Kabaddi, Kabaddi for a maximum period of 30 seconds and tries to score point by touching opponents.  A raid will be followed by a counter raid and the team receiving him is called the defending team.  The game continues with the series of raids and defenses.

1.Raid Point: Look at Pic 1.When a raider touches a defender and returns to his court in 30 seconds, a raid point is awarded.

2.Tackle Point: When an raider is successfully caught by the defending team preventing him from touching the central line within permitted 30 seconds, the defending team is awarded a tackle point.

3.Super Raid: As in Pic 3, if a raider is able in picking up three or more points on the rival team in a single attempt, the move is referred to as Super raid.

4.Super Tackle: Look at Pic 4.  When a team has three or less defenders on court and they successfully tackle an opposition raider, an additional point is awarded and the tackle is called a super tackle.

5.Do-or-die raid: If a team has two back-to-back raids without scoring a point, the third raid becomes a do-or-die raid.  The raider has to score a point in this third raid, else he is deemed out.

6.All-out: When all players of a team are out, an all-out is imposed on them and the opposition team is awarded two extra points.  The play will be restarted by recalling all players of the team which suffered the all-out.

Let us cheer the arrival of  5th Pro-Kabaddi League-2017. Let us get ready to understand, appreciate, enjoy and encourage the excitement of this great game which is 'truly Indian'.

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Thank you for reading my blog.  I request you to give me your valuable feedback preferably in this site itself.  Alternatively you can write to me at klakshminarayana1956@rediffmail.com. You can also reach me on facebook at Lakshminarayana Krishnappa