Zubeen Garg: A Loving Tribute!

 

The fair bright-faced boy with curly black hair, the sweet smile that never ceases to linger on his face and his eyes, his carefree ways and a great sense of humour, his brutal honesty and equally brutally outspoken, and yet the simplicity of his magnetic personality is overwhelming. These are the images that come to my mind whenever I think of him or his songs; even more now when his sudden untimely tragic accidental demise has shattered millions and millions across Assam, across India and across the world. These images are of the late 90s and early 2000s (unfortunately, I don’t have personal photographs as personal cameras or mobiles were conspicuously absent those days.). He is Zubeen Garg. He has been  a living legend of Assam, second only to Bhupen Hazarika, till destiny took him away just when the people of Assam have started celebrating the birth centenary of Sudhakantha Bhupen Hazarika. Zubeen, possibly the greatest singer-artiste ever produced in Assam, in terms of his mind-blowing following—covering/influencing/entertaining almost all of Gen X, Gen Y or the Millennials, Gen Z and even the Gen Alpha. And this is not just for his singing, but more for his sterling qualities that make him a dear friend of all the classes of Assam.

The crowds paying their last tributes all over Assam have been unprecedented with millions of them refusing to leave the streets or the grounds where his mortal remains are kept or awaited earlier for public darshan. Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, initially announced a three-day state mourning from 20-22^nd September, 2025, but had to extend it to 23^rd bowing to the incredible surge of admirers. The state funeral thus is going to be held tomorrow, the 23^rd September, in the outskirts of the city of Guwahati—a decision made on the request of Zubeen’s devastated wife Garima Saikia Garg and his family while there have been demands for being given the same honour from other cities.  His millions of devout admirers are also very angry because of some element of suspicion over his accidental death in Singapore on 19^th September, 2025, and amid mourning their hearts are crying out for the truth and the action that has to follow.

After the huge successes of his first few albums of Assamese songs, folk mixed with modern music for the first time, he landed in Mumbai around 1995 trying to find a place in Bollywood. We too came to know him that time. There was a relative’s son who was an inseparable childhood friend from the Jorhat years of Zubeen, Gautam Chakravarty, and who came to Mumbai for a course in sound recording, and through him we came to acquaint ourselves personally with Zubeen. He brought Zubeen once to our home in Mumbai for lunch and then onward we continued to meet him in the studios and in the functions organized by the Assam Association, Mumbai during various festivals where he sang invariably. The boy with the golden voice soon found a footing in Bollywood music and started playback singing in various movies.

His song Ya Ali for the movie Gangster (2006) made him very famous earning him a nomination in the Filmfare Awards-2007. Thanks to his commitment to his home state and his own people, he couldn’t fully concentrate on Bollywood, and therefore, apart from the occasional Hindi and Bangla film songs he worked mostly for Assam—composing-writing-singing for albums and Assamese films, as music director for many of these films and also acting in a few of them, not to speak of his immensely popular performances on the Bihu stages all over the state. Very soon Zubeen had set up his own recording studios in Mumbai and Guwahati. As is natural for a legendary singer, awards and nominations kept coming his way. He won his first National Award in 2005, Rajat Kamal for Best Music Director from Assam for the movie Dinabandhu, and in 2007 he received another National Award for Best Music from the then President of India, Pratibha Patil, for the non-fiction film Echoes of Silence.

I rue the fact that for the last decade or so we haven’t had any personal contact with him; however, we always got the news about him, heard from his friends known to us and from the grapevine. Like most of superstars and legends, controversies surrounded him all the years—usually for his unconventional straightforward ways and words, and his outbursts in public places and on the music stages. Perhaps a family tragedy affected him beyond repair. His younger sister, Jonkey Borthakur, who had been emerging as a singer as well as a movie actor died in a road accident in Assam in 2002, at the tender age of 18. The trauma of losing a sibling is always unbearable—the trauma often leaving an inerasable impact on the other siblings, particularly the elder ones. Zubeen tried his best to relieve his trauma through music—releasing an album in her name, but perhaps the pain never left him, making him unpredictable, given to intoxication and created health issues in the recent years.

Zubeen Garg was totally apolitical—raising his voice against anything he found wrong with any political party or ruling parties. He wholeheartedly participated in the anti-CAA movement in Assam during 2021-22, apart from other protests where he took to the streets with his music. He is also known for his charity, never disappointing anybody in need. It’s said by his fans that nobody ever left his house in Assam empty handed. He also participated in setting up a supermarket where products were directly procured from the farmers and villagers.

Zubeen Garg was born and named after the legend Zubin Mehta to parents Mohini Mohan Borthakur and Ily Borthakur—his father a poet and lyricist apart from his civil service career and his mother also a singer who was Zubeen’s first guru. He changed his family surname ‘Borthakur’ to his gotra ‘Garg', perhaps to assume an Indian identity.  His father, around 85 years of age now, survives him along with Zubeen's youngest sister and wife Garima Garg. Today, we join the prayers of his family, friends and the millions of his admirers. May God bless his noble soul and rest him in eternal bliss. And his music is going to flow on unabated…more than 38 thousand songs in more than 40 languages and dialects keeping us tuned for ages to come. Salute the great artiste!

The VIP Brat: A Study in Contrast!

Here we’re talking about only two compartments inside a particular AC 2-Tier coach in a particular daily train under the Indian Railways that departs a particular originating station at around noontime and reaches the destination city early morning the next day. The train is popular because it is superfast and always on time. That fateful noon too, the train was ready for boarding about one hour before departure. We cut to the inside of that particular coach having those two compartments for our contrasting study. Two elderly couples were in a state of considerable distress. One of them, both technically senior citizens, had been allotted two upper berths and the husband was at his wits end how to proceed, because his wife was being taken for check-up after surgeries in both of her knees—she could hardly walk and her climbing up the berth was a sheer impossibility. The husband was also on the wrong side of the sixties, but he thought he could manage the climbing once he managed a lower berth at least for his wife. Luckily for him, he found a much younger but understanding passenger who was traveling alone and agreed to adjust his lower berth for the lady.

In the next compartment another elderly couple, the husband being a genuine senior citizen and his wife approaching the landmark fast, was sulking apart from being distressed since early morning when the Railway text message came informing them that they were allotted one lower berth and a side upper berth—the lower berth at the third compartment of the coach and the other berth at the end. The husband always hated that side upper berth even in his younger days, because he always found it inconvenient and awkward to climb up. In consultation with his wife he decided not to take the risk of climbing up that berth at this age, and they both agreed to share the lower berth for the night. However, the expected arrival of the TTE infused them with some hope, maybe he’d be able to do some adjustments.

Since the husband of the first couple had his second upper berth in the next compartment he came presently to deposit his backpack there, and glanced at the other passengers. Noticing the dejected yet surrendered second couple he approached them with the usual pleasantries. And eventually they shared their stressful stories of the Indian Railways trying to despatch them up, rather too early!

The husband of the second couple observed ruefully, “You know! The advanced computerized booking system doesn’t bother at all about our age or physical attributes, they allot the berths as they come. And the human fellas behind the system always express their helplessness! Some progress!”

“Still, perhaps the TTE can help if some berths can be adjusted! This lower berth opposite yours is not yet occupied.” the other senior citizen opined.

Whatever hope they had of some adjustments evaporated that very moment as two servile attendants escorted a young boy of about eighteen years of age and right royally installed him on the very lower berth they talked about.

Wife of the second couple made a cardinal mistake sometime after the spectacle. Acting upon her motherly instinct she addressed the boy sweetly, asking him if he could mind climbing up the side upper berth for the sake of people older than his parents, and only for the night. She got a snub with the most brutally shortened and abrupt ‘no’. Her husband murmured, “Don’t make such terrible mistakes, my dear lady! Do you think any sensible human being would ever agree to give up a lower berth that ensures a window seat for a godforsaken upper berth, that too on the sides?”

The TTE did come eventually. As expected, he expressed his total helplessness to help against the wishes of the master computers. He made no promise of adjustments as he moved on to check the other berth-takers.

For the rest of afternoon and the evening Railway staff and uniformed catering pros kept on coming to the boy asking him about his comfort and entertaining him with his food preferences. At every major station halt multiple food packets arrived for him, and occasionally he brought up a pal from somewhere to share the food as both of them devoured in blissful and merry oblivion.

The attendants came again to make sure he sleeps well and in full comfort for the night. Much earlier than that everybody in the coach knew he was the son of some high-ranking railway officer.

The VIP brat lay down full stretch and luxuriously on the berth surfing his mobile phone even as the senior citizen of the first couple left his handicapped wife behind and laboriously climbed up to the upper berth above the brat. While the second couple moaned and groaned throughout the night as they tried to accommodate themselves in reverse positions on the single lower berth and struggled to find their respective leg and torso spaces. In one of his countless toss-n-turns the husband made what he thought a devastating comment, “No! human fellas behind the computerized booking system are not as helpless against their master computers as we thought! Human intervention is still possible and exists for every single train in the country! However, this intervention works only for the VIPs or the VVIPs or their respective brats! No wonder, at what ease the other VIP brats drive their dads’ imported SUVs and keep on mowing down, maiming and killing useless commoners like us at will!” 

Padma Vibhushan Dr. Prabha Atre (1932-2024): The Complete Artiste Breathes Her Last

On the eve of Uruka, Magh Bihu, this Saturday morning delivers us a shattering blow—more devastating because of its suddenness and unexpectedness. The legendary Hindustani Classical Vocalist and the senior-most artiste of the Kirana Gharana, Padma Vibhushan Dr. Prabha Atre has passed away in the wee hours at his Pune residence at the age of 92. Ragini’s Guru cum friend-philosopher-guide cum an away mother for both of us for a span of nearly 35 years has ceased all of a sudden, leaving us helpless and perplexed. It is very sudden and unexpected as, defying even the nineties, she’s had always been lithe, lively, active and spirited; she’s had been commuting between Mumbai and Pune constantly—still climbing the three flights of stairs in her Matunga flat in Mumbai and doing her creative work and teaching in her Gurukul residence in Pune. Madam, as we called her since 1990, was to perform tomorrow in Mumbai at the Sureshbabu Hirabai music conference that she herself started in 1991 at the Tilak Vidyalaya Premises, Vile Parle. Only last week she called up Ragini asking about her music and everything, and as always asking about me ‘Chinmay kya karta hai’ and asking us to come to Pune to stay with her. Our grief has increased all the more because we’ve been planning to visit her positively this time, during the last week of January, and this has come to a naught. We also feel helpless: in a repetitive cycle we invariably fail to be with our closest ones during times of death  or distress for reasons beyond our control which, naturally, are interpreted by others as mere excuses; this time too we’re unable to at least go and have a last darshan of the legendary artiste in Pune, because Ragini had a surgery in a Thane hospital in the last week of December 2023 and has been strictly instructed by the doctor to not travel for one month. We ask Madam for forgiveness and pray for the eternal bliss of her great soul.

Memories flood in. Ragini’s Guru Birendra Kumar Phukan and her father Sangeet Jyoti Bibekananda Bhattacharyya had suggested Dr. Prabha Atre as her future Guru in Mumbai. Accordingly, one day I went to the SNDT Women’s University at Marine Lines, Mumbai where she was the then Head of Music. On being directed to her practice room I peeped in asking the few ladies present inside for Dr. Atre. Her profound simplicity and modesty struck me the moment she came out into the passage with a warm sweet smile. I introduced myself and told her about the purpose of my visit. She listened very carefully and then gave me a telephone number to call her after a few days. For about fortnight she kept us hanging which, we understood later, was just to test Ragini’s sincerity and dedication to music learning and to pursue a career. Finally, she called us over to that SNDT practice room and asked Ragini to sing, also allowing me to sit on the carpeted floor of the room where a few other disciples were also present. And Ragini qualified to be the legend’s disciple along with some sound advice and instructions. That was sometime in 1990 and since then Ragini has been learning from her in various ways—in her direct class lessons, from the telephone conversations and through the conferences/stage concerts/lectures.  In her classes at her Mumbai flat as well as in all stage concerts I too was most welcome whenever I could make it. We were also blessed to have the love and attention of her lovely parents who lived with her in Mumbai. 

In less than two years I came to know the great artiste from very close quarters and discover the greatest human being in her. We got bold enough to invite her to Assam in March 1992 for stage concerts. To our ecstasy she accepted immediately and spontaneously, without bothering about the fees she normally charged that time. She performed at Ravindra Bhawan in Guwahati and also in Nagaon. She stayed in our Sankardev Nagar residence and in Bauli Bahor, Nagaon, like a most intimate member of the family. In a souvenir published for the Guwahati concert I wrote an article on her describing her as ‘The Complete Artiste’. To my profound delight and gratitude, she praised the article like anything, and later got it translated into Marathi and published it in a Marathi music journal.

Over the decades Ragini stayed and traveled with her on various occasions; both of us lived with her for some time in her Matunga residence; and she also came to stay with us at our Wadala government quarters for a few days along with her associate Dr. Bharathi MD. She occasionally involved me in hers books too and acknowledged my contribution accordingly. Apart from being a performer par excellence she’s also been an organizer of music conferences-workshops-competitions, musicologist-author and an avid music teacher-Guru.

We feel sorry that we couldn’t meet in her in person for the last few years, particularly after my transfer from Mumbai. However, she kept up constant contact with us, with words of advice, encouragement and persistence, both as a Guru and as a mother. Thanks to my stint in Mumbai Doordarshan News the legendary artiste was humble enough to request me for publicity for her various events that continued till now. In the meantime, she started her YouTube channel broadcasts and I used to get the publicity matter, dot on time every time. The last time she talked to me directly on phone was in September 2022 (her Birthday on 13^th September) when the celebrations were going to for her 90^th Birthday.  She gave an invaluable article on various music theories and guidance to upcoming vocalists that she wanted me to try publishing in leading newspapers as well as in my blog. In Kolkata that time , I put in my maximum efforts to justify her confidence in me and published the article also in my blog. Luckily, I still have the link to that invaluable article.

We have lost one of the closest persons on earth for us, but we feel she’ll be with us for the rest of our lives and that her music is all set to go on, forever. A Salute to The Complete Artiste. 

(A while ago I've received the confirmatory email from Dr. Prabha Atre Foundation along with the artiste's full bios.)

The Refueling Conundrum!

 

I don’t really know why they do it. Perhaps they too adhere to the belief or the superstition that when one prepares too well for something, nothing really happens. The autorickshaw or the cab drivers may thus think that when they fill their tanks or cylinders with fuel first thing in the morning and wait for the customers none would come up or that it would take the best part of the day for the first customer. Therefore, they may accede to a ‘Let’s fill up only after I get a customer’ kind of behavioral psychology. I’ve often been the victim of such driver-psychology exploits in the city of Guwahati—called the gateway of the North East region. Let it be the autorickshaws or even the app cabs, the drivers thereof would invariably move the vehicle into a petrol pump on the way thus severely impinging on my allotted time for the ride and then for the possible meetings or appointments to keep. Annoyance pumped up by inconvenience and anger would always take full possession of my hapless state of being. I thought this psychology was limited to the somewhat lazy and laidback city/region as mentioned; but to my consternation I discovered it spreading to other parts of the country, and more worryingly, even in the most professional city of Mumbai. Mind you, I’m not jumping to conclusions or generalizations. I’m more or less certain because it was not a random incident where the driver could’ve genuinely missed the refueling due to technical issues, it happened twice in two successive days, and in both occasions the drivers did not look apologetic at all as if they were used to that by-now-normalized procedure. And they stuck to that stock answer in an expressionless tone, “The pumps were closed!”

In the first incident in Mumbai the driver of an app cab nearly made us miss an important meeting. The young driver looked okay and he was cruising the car nicely through a fairly dense traffic. But suddenly, midway, drove into a petrol pump on his left and joined a queue of around three-four vehicles. Completely taken by surprise as I never remembered a similar incident in the financial capital, I demanded him why. That stock answer came up promptly and I was agonized to find that he’d joined a queue for CNG filling which I know takes a long time. So I couldn’t help firing him right and left, but the young boy perfectly kept his composure, making me feel silly even in the midst of my great temper. My wife, trying to take control of the situation, prodded him softly as to why he didn’t inform at the time of booking. The boy avoided answering by informing that he’d already got his number and that it would not take much time now. After fifteen minutes that seemed to be the longest of waits in my entire life, I could bear it no longer and got out of the car banging the door shut. Pacing up to the road I started dialing the organizers trying to do some damage control as there were a few other participants in the meeting waiting. They agreed to a 30-minute window, and finally we reached around 35 minutes late, 25 of which was caused by the refueling googly.

In the second incident the very next day we got late at the house of a friend we reunited with after long years. When we finished our three-course supper, it was nearly midnight. The app cab drivers were not responding and the aggregators focused on increasing the fares by the second. Our responsible friend tried a new app on his mobile and finally the car he booked arrived. Again, the driver was a young boy, seemed hardly 20. However, he assured our friend that he’d take absolute care of us and would deposit us home safe and sound. We took off.

The streets were not exactly packed at that late hour, but the boy was driving at a snail’s pace. Unable to hide her curiosity my wife asked him why he was not picking up speed. And then only he dropped the bombshell: he was looking for a CNG filling station as his fuel was dwindling fast! Not only that! The car might run out of fuel anytime now and the responsible boy was very worried that his ‘uncle and aunty’ could get stranded in the middle of the night! This time I took a long sigh and just leaned back on the seat, as if surrendering to fate.

The young driver kept on stopping asking one and all, including the Zomato delivery boys, for the way to the nearest CNG filling pump. They all did indeed give very painstaking directions, but our lean and thin young gentleman couldn’t find any. And he constantly kept up our tension by mentioning that ‘getting stranded’ bit. Finally I intervened telling him to consult people of his ilk, that is to say, other drivers of autorickshaws or cabs or taxis. Luckily, he found an autorickshaw by the side of a road and accosted the driver: requesting him for the way in the most urgent manner possible, of course, by mentioning what fate his dearest ‘uncle and aunty’ could be heading for. I did my best to avoid meeting a supposedly sympathetic stare from the autorickshaw driver; but he gave solid directions to a gas station which was still some way off and nearer to our home. Fortunately, the car engine did not go phut and the eager driver found the pump and could finally satiate the urge of his cylinder, if not his.

We found it perplexing that the boy still did neither brighten up nor increase the speed of his vehicle. Again, my wife asked him why. In reply he asked her a very pertinent question, “Do you know your way to your home?” More in store for us! I thought bitterly. “Of course!” she replied. Then he disclosed that he was an absolute stranger in the area and so was driving slow, and particularly avoiding the flyovers, afraid where they’d eject him out.

For the rest of the journey I took absolute command of directing him: the turns to take and which flyovers to avoid and which ones to take. The young driver indeed delivered his ‘uncle and aunty’ home around 2 in the morning, delayed by at least an hour. I wanted to give some sound pieces of advice. But what the heck! I’d not rather have stock digitalized responses! Instead, I took the pledge of asking the driver if he was going to refuel on the way, every time I’d happen to book a transport in future anywhere and everywhere. However, we do fervently hope the refueling virus do not spread far and wide and someone resourceful check its possible progress. Or it still remains a conundrum!

The Horrors at the Guwahati LGBI Airport!

Aberrations do occur, in any field of activity or operation or management, the airport operations mid-air or at ground level being no exceptions. But unfortunately, such aberrations seem to be the rule at the Guwahati LGBI Airport, even after a complete revamp of the busiest airport of North East India that was done by one of the top-rated industrialists of the    country. As fairly regular passengers over the years in the domestic air routes to Guwahati we’d experienced or had witnessed such aberrations, the horrors, regularly too at this airport, occurring mostly at the Security zone. No doubt, security is the topmost priority in our insurgency-infested country; but there are justifiable ways of doing it and not going berserk and nearly attacking/harassing/shaming normal passengers. The security forces should possess some level of intelligence to be able to detect suspicious passengers instead of intimidating every Tom, Dick and Harry. There have been some news reports about such horrors happening to legitimately normal passengers having full records at the hands of the governments; but many stories never come out as most people prefer not to speak about their shame in public. Such horrors remind us of the ‘security tortures’ in the US airports following the 9/11 terrorist strikes, although our country hasn’t been experiencing terror activities in recent years. So, is this because of the hate-laden country where anyone of any background at any public arena could suddenly burst out with bizarre acts of violence?

The Security zone of the airport looks just fine with a full-women team managing and screening women passengers. But unfortunately, despite being of the same ilk as their passengers they fail abysmally to understand the kind of the basic necessities they all carry while traveling—like the minimal cosmetics, mobiles and accessories, vanity bags and purses and so on which are items permitted by the airlines. The all-women young team doesn’t seem to understand, anyway. We came to know the story of an elderly woman who was subjected to mental and physical torture in the name of ‘Security’.

First, she was nearly stripped inside the ‘examination’ cabin as one of the bright Security ladies ran her hands all over her body. At the lower belly of the 60+ woman she felt a lump which could’ve have been any harmless fat accumulation or a harmless hernia or rather tragically some malignant tumor that the woman herself was not aware. However, the smart young girl in dazzling uniform thought the lump could conceal some metallic device or even a bomb! Her loyalty to the highest possible standards of safety made her nearly strip the woman. She relented only when the woman burst into tears as her feeble protests had no impact on the ‘examiner’ and she, fortunately, didn’t turn into an ‘executioner’ conducting a possible surgery on the spot.  

Second, after being let out of the torture chamber the elderly woman discovered that her vanity bag was kept aside as obviously found suspicious by the diligent members of the team. As she approached another bright member of the team picked up the bag and turned it upside down pouring all the apparently mundane items on the desk. As the elderly woman stood aghast one more team-lady joined the other in rummaging through the items: they found the innocuous pin that is used to push out the simcard-tray of the mobile very suspicious, perhaps thinking that the pin could trigger some bomb somewhere; they took extraordinary interest in the cosmetic items; they then discovered a normal nail-cutter and threw it unceremoniously into their own dustbin; they also found a tiny purse containing notes and coins and dexterously counted out all of it, for reasons they only knew; they also found another tiny plastic cover having credit/debit cards and checked each one meticulously; and they objected to everything they found.

They demanded the elderly woman show her ID cards to which the exasperated woman strongly objected. Those cards were already checked and why at all she should show those here, she asked. What was her crime, she wanted to know. By then the elderly woman’s husband, on the wrong side of sixty, distraught by the unusual delay joined her and warned her that they could miss the boarding. As he began to understand the goings-on he started shouting in desperation asking were there instructions to harass passengers selectively and if they thought that all ID cards could be easily forged. One of the ‘examiners’ then proceeded to her table and started jotting down notes as if she made her observations to be forwarded to her high command. And finally, they allowed the elderly lady to proceed. One of them even offered to give back the nail-cutter which the woman refused stoutly asking them to use it. The woman needed another ten minutes to put all the scattered items back into her bag.

And that was not the end. Air India made it still worse for the senior citizen duo. The couple hurried to the boarding counter and found a long queue.  The display showed that the flight was on time. So, they joined the queue and waited and waited and waited. More than half an hour elapsed with the Airline still not announcing a delay, sticking to the same scheduled time and expected time of departure. Already tired from their previous torture the elderly couple’s knees began aching. There were only limited chairs available most of which were occupied by young guys who looked very energetic, but seemingly in extreme need of rest and care themselves. It was a very hot day and the central AC was either not functioning or kept at very low levels. Perhaps one more noble initiative for the objective of conservation of energy! However, it only added to the sorry plight of the hapless couple. The old couple still couldn’t afford to leave the queue in search of some vacant chairs, for the Airline already sounded the warning that boarding counter would close 25 minutes before departure.

Finally, the display sign claimed ‘Boarding Gate Open’. Even after that, the gate remained closed for another ten minutes with the smart executives hopping in and out of the boarding counter as if they were the busiest souls in the world. It turned out to be a delay of nearly an hour, but still not announced or acknowledged or apologized for. The couple only got a text message from the Airline regretting a change of the boarding gate when there was none.

We don’t know how many more stories of such horrors are waiting to be told. In the name of what that we’re made to suffer like this? Security and safety of the nation? Well, first learn treating the rightful citizens as rightful citizens and then talk of their safety. More importantly, learn respecting the senior citizens most of whom are definitely not terrorists. All of the good citizens deserve better than this.

IPL 2023: The ‘Home’ Celebrations Get Hammered!

The ‘home’ perception and the celebrations thereof owe their origins to the naming of the competing franchises since 2008. Most of the franchises are named after major cities of the country like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru etc. and one or two after the source state like Rajasthan Royals. Obviously, it’s always been expected that the cricket lovers of those cities or states would ideally be the supporters of the ‘home’ team and show full loyalties as respective fans (However, it’s not clear as to whether locals of the concerned city only or the full state should become ravenous supporters or not, because in case of Maharashtra there was another franchise named Pune Warriors once, and so it was ambiguous as to who the state of Maharashtra fans should support). And that’s what’s been happening ever since, although the whole ‘celebration’ syndrome defies all logic: because, first, the players for each franchise are selected through the path-breaking auctions with players joining the teams as per the bids; second, so, there’s absolutely no guarantee that any local cricketers, if available, shall be included in the concerned franchises; third, even if one or two local cricketers happen to get included there’s no guarantee that they’d go on playing for their teams which is actually subject to the glorious rules of the game; then, four, the auctions are not limited to India alone, but open to all cricket playing nations with the exception of Pakistan for reasons known too well; and lastly, there’ve been numerous instances of ‘local boys’ not being bought back by the concerned franchises in subsequent auctions, again depending on the glorious rules of the game that include not just forms but current market values too and very often being even left ‘unsold’.

 

Rest assured, we’re not at all trying to question or raise objections to the ‘home’ patriotism, we only happen to get a little concerned about it, thanks to various what we think sustainable reasons. For one, out of the 43 IPL-2023 matches played till May 1, 2023, in as many as 24 matches the home teams have lost, that is more than 50%--definitely a whopping statistic. This figure includes the match lost by RR in Guwahati also, because in order to bring that north eastern city into the IPL ambit for the first time, the city was suddenly marked as ‘home’ for RR. We’re at a total loss to know for what earthy reasons as RR has always been basking in their proper home shine of Rajasthan and besides, the ruling parties in both states are not even the same. Anyway, as regards our statistical point we must admit that we’re blissfully unaware of what could’ve been the scenario in the previous IPL versions and also accept that we’re not empowered to do that kind of research.

 

As we mentioned we’re also piqued by what happened in that Delhi Capitals match in Delhi against Sunrisers Hyderabad when, fans angered by the ‘home’ team’s abysmally consistent failure to win matches and stay in active contention, erupted into a freestyle fisticuff with rival or general fans inside the stadium. Besides, before that what happened in Kolkata (the iconic Eden Gardens), the fans there too agonized by the ‘home’ franchise’s consistent failure to win matches and stay in active contention despite the incredible Rinku Singh boost they achieved. In that match between CSK and KKR on 23^rd April, 2023, one specially frustrated KKR fan erupted into the public arena declaring that this practice of ignoring the ‘Bangla’ cause at the ‘home’ turf is not at all desirable, but actually very deplorable. Now, it is not clear as to what ‘Bangla’ ingredients he found in that franchise where even the lone player having the surname of Chakravarthy, is neither a Bong nor from Bangla. No doubt, rational and wiser souls have condemned the ‘patriot’ robustly.

 

This brings us to our last point. For MS Dhoni, the inimitable former India captain, he’d be welcome in any place in India and cricket lovers would really love to see him in full flow. And for that matter, former most successful India captain Virat Kohli (although fans have been getting used to watching him fight for a lost cause, always over the years), the present India captain Rohit Sharma (who refused to take Sunil Gavaskar’s advice to take a break and prepare well for the Test Championship match early next month) and quite a few other national and international achievers would also be welcome anywhere in India and general fans would love to see them dishing out inspiring and exemplary cricket.

 

The IPL-2023 has really been an exciting spectacle so far in terms of giving the fans veritable treats of both low-scoring cum high-scoring thrillers, invariably going down to the last over. So, why bother about home or no-home? India is our home and we should make ourselves free to partake in the cricketing bonanza. One positive aspect of the ‘home’ syndrome though comes out loud and clear: the apparently ‘home-infected’ dejected about-to-cry fans suddenly burst into life whenever one of the roving stadium cameras focuses on them! Many more thrillers are yet to come and the climax thereafter! So, enjoy!

A Grueling Tale of Relentlessly Humid Heat! Extremely Uneven Monsoon!

Climate change and global warming are by now household words, and more frighteningly, the impact of these terms have been cruelly discernible in the daily lives of the citizens in many parts of India and the world. The world leaders must understand the deadly reality of our only habitat getting hotter and hotter by the day, and if this is not checked immediately by whatever possible means in our command this planet is set to be uninhabitable very soon, sooner than we think. The South West Monsoon, still the mainstay of agriculture in India, has been uneven this year in the extremes—some traditionally dry regions getting excess rains to a huge extent, some regions getting their full quota delivered in a matter of days and some traditionally wet regions still not having a monsoon with its usual flow and downpours. Therefore, in all such cases the monsoon is not helping the farmers at all, and on the other hand, people in many areas with scarce rainfall are suffering from continuous heat waves and relentless humid heat even in the traditionally wet months of July and August.

 

We were in Kolkata, the state of West Bengal, during most of the first three months of June-August, and although the monsoon made an early entry it is yet to justify its normal course of behavior and downpour. The Met department has been putting the blame on the absence of low-pressure systems in the Bay of Bengal, and even though there were two or three low-pressure developments in the recent weeks the state of Odisha got the rains away from Bengal on all such occasions, leading to excess rains there. Therefore in Kolkata and several other districts, we continued to suffer from intolerable humid heat and unusually high temperatures hovering around 35 degree C.; rains have been there in fits and starts, but not with the heart in its right place.

 

Around mid-August we came to the north-eastern state of Assam on family issues and a home visit that had been pending since the outbreak of the pandemic. Assam has been a state where the rain Gods always showered mercy upon. Here, we all have been growing up with the notion that following a day of sultry heat a thundershower invariably comes in the evening or late night thus giving immediate relief. However, during the first ten days of our stay in Guwahati we’ve not seen a single drop of rain or high wind; forget about the nostalgic sound of the thunder and the sight of black rain-bearing clouds. One obvious factor is that the near-full monsoon quota was delivered just in days in the month of late May and early June, leading to unprecedented floods and rainwater logging. And now, only humid heat prevails with temperatures around 35 which are extremely unusual with no relief in weeks.

 

Then, we traveled eastward to Nagaon, a city in central Assam. The scenario gets even worse. We’ve immediately encountered a 2-degree hike in temperature than in Guwahati, that is say around 37 degree C, in these areas with the roasting humidity adding fuel to the heat-fire. And yes, no relief in terms of thundershowers or high wind or anything. The halfhearted clouds that gather almost on a daily basis make it a more insufferable experience. The farmers are put into a contrasting situation—they first had a rain deluge in their fields thus delaying the cropping season and now their fields with growing plants are cracking up due to the total absence of rain. This is not just our tale; it is the tale of a huge chunk of humanity spread across the planet. Only recently, we heard about the unprecedented heat wave in England where the temperatures crossed the 40-degree mark with scary ease.

 

Those lucky ones who can afford the ACs are having some relief sitting at home, but all those ACs humming around every corner—let it be Kolkata or Guwahati or Nagaon—are spreading more hot airs out and making the environment warmer still. In my lifetime I’ve never experienced such fury of unabated heat in my own home state of Assam. Yes, Mother Nature has never been as angry as in the last few years, including this year as perhaps the most watershed one. Nowadays She never bothers about human weather forecasts and ignores those regularly. Humankind must find ways of placating Mother Nature fast, as fast as they’re capable of. All global energy must be concentrated on this battle instead of indulging in ones against each other and endangering the global warming further by pandering to Third World War sentiments. Mind you, it’s basically the weather and the environment that shape human progress and peace. Extreme conditions lead to intolerance among humans, racism and so many other social evils as have been rampant in many nations of the world. It’s Now or Never!

The India Monsoon EMIs in Severe Default!

The South West Monsoon has always been the mainstay of Indian agriculture, being the main source of rainfall accounting for more than 75% of total rainfall in the country every year. Most often than not, the IMD (Indian Meteorological Department) forecasts a normal or near-normal monsoon with about -/+ 5% margin of error, and this year (2022) too it had predicted a normal monsoon which, in fact, was supposed to arrive at least a week in advance. And, it did indeed arrive early hitting the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by middle of May, and then advancing to Kerala, to Maharashtra and gradually the whole country. Unfortunately, its early arrival hasn’t benefited even Kerala and Maharashtra, patiently queuing up for the early-bird offers,  while venting its wrath in the North East, particularly in the state of Assam creating unprecedented floods in the main city of Guwahati and many other districts. In a few days the monsoon had exceeded its monthly quota of rains in Assam by more than 150% and rained more than 200% of its quota in Guwahati in a few hours. And, it’s still not relenting.

 

As per the latest data released by the IMD the monsoon has been either deficient or severely deficient in 18 states that account for around 54% of the total land mass of the country. Ironically, hoping for the benefits of its early arrival Kerala is suffering from around 55% rain-deficit of the June quota while the next-in-line Maharashtra is 33% deficient. The deficit goes to up to as high as 70% in case of Delhi, covering in its wake most of the northern states. So, where exactly the monsoon is pouring? Obviously, the most indiscriminate downpours falling in severe excess in the North-East and in parts of the Eastern region, and of course, some other scattered areas.

 

The South West Monsoon stays in action for four months, namely June-September, every year. Therefore, we can reasonably call it Equated Monthly Installments (EMI) of rains and hope for its equitable distribution during the period. However, since the last nearly two decades we’ve been witness to the most unjust EMIs; at times, the full EMI quota gets poured out in a matter of hours or in one day as we’ve mentioned earlier for some regions while in other areas the EMIs go into a severe defaulting mode. For the floods in the metros and major cities suffering people blame the municipal authorities for their failure to prevent water logging by not preparing well; but, when a full EMI get spent in a matter of hours, no authorities could possibly hope for prevention, not only in India but all over the globe.

 

Who are to blame for this then? Well, we cannot hope to find easy scapegoats except for the immensely demonstrated wrath of Mother Nature, again and again, as if punishing humankind for its sins spread over centuries. Obviously, the sins of humankind are making this Planet Earth increasingly inhabitable with the waves of heat in terms of a global warming that is going out of control as well as the unprecedented bursts of showers to follow in suit—both making life extremely painful. Are we learning any lessons yet?

 

The IMD goes on to say that the inactive phase of the monsoon in many regions could possibly be due to the non-formation of low-pressure systems over the Bay of Bengal; but then, this doesn’t explain the worrying shortfalls in some of the Northern, Western and Central states. Hopefully, they say, the active phase would begin in the first week of July 2022 that can help recover the deficits. In that too, there are causes enough for more worries. As per the defaulting EMI syndrome, the compensation could come in unprecedented downpours in one hour on in one day which would again make people suffer. Who can bring the EMIs to an equitable mode? Ever again, if at all?

 

We cannot forget the downpours in the city of Kolkata last year when the delayed monsoon vented its wrath in very concentrated heavy downpours later which resulted in severe water logging all around the city with the water threatening to enter houses in areas that never saw such events. On many occasions earlier I’d mentioned the ‘YesMonsoon, No Monsoon’ situations in the financial capital of Mumbai, and the suffering of the farmers of Maharashtra in many of its drought-prone areas. This time, I’ve seen similar situations in Kolkata, the City of Joy. The Monsoon arrived in North Bengal much in advance and heavy downpours are still continuing there. But there’s absolutely nothing to indicate that the Monsoon has also arrived in South Bengal, particularly in Kolkata. Despite regular weather forecasts for rain on a daily basis, the monsoon is defying it on a daily basis too as if enjoying the prolonged spell of humid and sweating heat in the city. The temperatures are still hell-bent on crossing the 35 degree C on a daily basis, adding more misery to the citizens with humidity of more than 80% that is triggered by the inconsistent light rains. As on June-end Kolkata is suffering a rain-deficit of more than 50%. For the next months of July and August we wait with fingers crossed, because we don’t how the ‘compensation or recovery’ would materialize.

 

Hopefully, as the IMD says, the Monsoon does really become active in the coming days, and most importantly, sticks to a strictly non-defaulting EMI mode. The farmers in many states are still waiting to sow their seeds, and the subsistence living of most of them depends on an equitable distribution of rains in the coming months. Excessive rains damage their plants as well as the lack of it, and we hope the ‘compensation’ doesn’t spill over to more months, because unseasonal rains damage their growing plants with more devastating effects.

Maharashtra Political Thriller: A Shiv Sena without the Thackerays?

We’ve been liberally treated with political thrillers like that is happening in Maharashtra at the moment across the country since the last few years, thanks to the aggressive power-politics of the national ruling dispensation (BJP) which fittingly matches its aggressive Hindutva nationalism. However, the present game has been inevitable since the year 2019 when Shiv Sena (SS) parted ways with the BJP after jointly fighting and winning the assembly elections, and after a landslide victory for the alliance in 2014, on the CM post issue, and forming a coalition government Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (Maharashtra Development Front or MVA) with the Congress and the nationalist Congress (NCP). For the last two and half years the state BJP has been a grumpy lot, alleging a great betrayal by the SS and wanting desperately to avenge it; in fact, they’d tried at least three times to derail the coalition so far. This last one, even though the party has continued to be in denial about any involvement, has proved to be the biggest coup within the Sena in history, threatening to finally dislodge the Uddhav Thackeray led MVA government.

 

The most definitive parameter of such political thrillers, the hotel-resort politics, is very much there in this too: first the dissident MLAs (Member of Legislative Assembly) led by Eknath Shinde, one of the senior-most and loyalist leaders of the Shiv Sena, were lodged in a five-star resort in Surat, a city in the BJP-ruled state of Gujarat, and then shifted unexpectedly at the dead of the same night to a five-star venue in Guwahati, of course, the capital of another BJP-ruled state of Assam with one of the most prominently aggressive national BJP leaders, Himanta Biswa Sarma, being the Chief Minister there. Dissident leader Eknath Shinde reportedly moved in there with around 30 supporting Sena MLAs which has increased to 42 (total of 46 including independent MLAs), as claimed by him on the morning of 23^rd June, 2022, for which he’d provided video proof too.

 

As per the anti-defection law Shinde needs to ensure the support of at least 37 MLAs which is two-thirds of the 55 SS MLAs in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly after the 2019 assembly elections. With apparently more than the required number the dissidents can now avoid disqualification and vote for the BJP in case of a no-confidence motion or in terms of showing the numbers to the Governor of Maharashtra to stake claim for the formation of a new Government with the BJP, the traditional partner of the SS on the basic Hindutva issue till 2019. Buoyed by this support Shinde has been claiming to be the leader of the ‘actual’ Shiv Sena, wanting to retain its identity at any cost. So, now we’re faced with a situation of a Shiv Sena without the Thackeray family whereas it was the legendary Balasaheb Thackeray, father of the present CM Uddhav Thackeray, who founded this party on 19^th June, 1966 in the interests of protecting the rights of the local Marathi population of the state.

 

Emotions ran high last evening, the 22^nd of June 2022, when Uddhav Thackeray, a gentleman-politician as always, made an address in social media appealing to all his MLAs to tell him face-to-face if they wanted him to resign that he said he was ready to do anytime, instead of conspiring behind his back. He added that his becoming the Chief Minister was only accidental which is actually true as the coalition partners wouldn’t have agreed to a non-Thackeray for the post. He also threw a kind of bait to Shinde, asking if they could ensure a new Chief Minister from his party only in the new scenario. In a further confirmation of his intentions Uddhav, found to be COVID positive in the morning, along with his family vacated his official CM residence Varsha late evening the same day, and moved to his family home Matoshree, around 9 km away. And we’d witnessed a spontaneous burst of love and support throughout his short journey home with thousands of Shiv Sainiks (Sena workers) and supporters accosting the traditional Sena leader and his bright promising minister-son Aaditya Thackeray on the streets of Mumbai. In my experience of over three decades this could only be only the second occasion of a spontaneous mass outburst of loyalty for a Thackeray, than during the days when Balasaheb lay seriously ill at Matoshree and eventually passed away in 2012.

 

Perhaps, somewhat nonplused by those emotional proceedings Eknath Shinde shied away from his intended press conference in Guwahati last evening, and instead shot off an ‘emotional’ letter to Uddhav this morning alleging a saga of sheer neglect to the SS loyalists by his coalition government that consistently preferred those of Congress and NCP only. However, despite the charged emotional drama MLAs kept on defecting from the Uddhav group and flying over to Guwahati, at times accompanied by BJP leaders.

 

The main spokesperson of the SS, Sanjay Raut has been saying repeatedly that the CM was not going to resign and that once the ‘imprisoned’ flock of MLAs returns to Mumbai it’d be an entirely different scenario as he has claimed to have been in touch with at least twenty dissident MLAs. He has also said that the traditional supporters of the SS have reiterated their binding faith in the Thackerays, have called the Sena dissidents as ‘traitors’ and have warned that they’d defeat them in the next assembly elections. All these claims and counter-claims about the numbers make this abundantly clear that this political thriller is far from over at the moment. Coincidentally, the 80-year-old Governor of Maharashtra has been in a hospital after being proved COVID positive.

 

Eknath Shinde has made it clear that his fight is to save the SS from this ‘unnatural’ coalition and to reunite the party with its traditional Hindutva partner BJP. Therefore, basically, Shinde wants to be the leader of the ‘actual’ or the breakaway faction of the Shiv Sena, and does not want to merge with the BJP. If he’d like to be considered for the post of the new CM, the BJP is extremely unlikely to agree to that with the dislodged former CM Devendra Fadnavis waiting patiently for over two and half years. Further, the Election Commission has to come into the scenario later as to which faction is going to have the right to continue using the old party symbol. Whatever be the future proceedings of this number-game, now apparently not at all in favor of Uddhav Thackeray, a Shiv Sena without the Thackeray family is not a concept that’d have acceptance from the larger Marathi people of the state.

KK Demise: Bollywood Vs Regional!

There was an ugly kind of mad expression just the day before the Kolkata concert of the famous Bollywood playback singer Krishnakumar Kunnath (KK) who succumbed to a heart attack immediately after that fateful concert, held in a jammed auditorium in extreme humid heat conditions. Due to the lack of space we couldn’t mention it and discuss about this particular madness, obviously a pandemic-induced one to a large extent, in our earlier piece. It came from a well-known Bangla artiste-singer in the form of an enraged expression. He questioned as to who is KK indeed, that why should there be so much craze for such Bollywood singers like him and that there are more talented singers than him available locally in Bengal. No doubt, his comments were condemned in all quarters including the social media. The artiste himself apologized for his behavior and later expressed his terrible shock over the tragedy that followed the concert.

 

However, this kind of ugly conduct cannot be wished away as a one-off thing or as an aberration. Of course, this coming from a Bangla artiste is a bit surprising, because Bengal has a thriving film and music industry that gives ample opportunities to the local singers or playback singers and, from the early ages in Bollywood numerous talented Bangla directors, producers, actors and singers migrated and made it big there, and it’s still in continuation. Our rather unfortunate observation that ‘his comments cannot be wished away…’ is valid in many other states of the country where the respective film and music industries are sluggish and not paying enough to anyone wanting to make a career, barring exceptions, of course.

 

In such a state there’ve always been dissatisfaction, lamentations and rage over the Bollywood artistes coming there and performing to packed auditoriums or stadiums while they just look on helplessly, abandoned as locals without the ‘glamour’ value. Many of us have seen from the sixties at least when local filmmakers go out of the states for music recordings, always preferring Bollywood playback singers to sing for their films even if it involved compromise with the local language. Even now, with high-tech studios coming up almost everywhere the filmmakers do the recordings there, but still prefer famous Hindi playback singers. 

Similarly, local event organizers are always ready to go to any extent to bring in Bollywood singers so that their events become grand successes. Local artists are not considered, because when they’re featured it just becomes a local event, mostly even without ticketing or ways to make money. Only the southern states are the glorious exceptions to this grumpy ‘artistic’ phenomenon because they create their own phenomenal superstars locally and generate the moolahs not just locally, but worldwide.  

 

Well, it’s an established fact that there are thousands of very talented singers all around the country; more now, thanks to the social media and many other digital platforms where they can sing like stars. But everyone cannot make it to the playback singing in Bollywood; forget about making it big there, due to various reasons like lack of enough finances or sponsorship or command over Hindi or lack of connections and kinda godfathers or many others. 

On the other hand, Bollywood thrives on its countrywide or even worldwide acceptance with everything enacted in the national language Hindi that is welcome everywhere except, obviously, in the southern states of India. Thanks to its huge reach Hindi films or songs or actors or singers become immensely popular instantly. And, the local organizers, filmmakers and other professionals vie to get hold of at least a handful of them to make their projects in regional languages look bigger, attractive and more glamorous.

 

The two-year hiatus created by the pandemic has hit the regional artists much more than those in Bollywood, making them frustrated, despondent and angry. Many of them have become like the millions of others who have lost their jobs, sources of income and thus the means of their preferred livelihoods. Therefore, this unfortunate chasm between Bollywood/Hindi vs. Regionals is likely to widen further in a future that is laden with uncertainty, inflation and declining growth of markets. And unfortunately again, we cannot offer any solution to this, because it’s been an issue of creative ventures, preferences and choices. Any kinds of strong regionalism or parochialism can only further the stress within the country.