As per the horoscope my birthday falls on Baikunth Chaturdashi (9 Nov 2011). Next day is the Kartik Purnima, when the Banaras Ghats are illuminated with thousands of diya on the occasion of Dev Deepawali. I asked my Facebook friend Dr. Diwaker Pradhan, reader in Banaras Hindu University to enlighten me on the significance of the day. Earlier he had shared Benares, Ganga Aarti Ceremony from the youtube.com. I had attended the evening Aarti along with my wife Ranjana, son Raman and nephew Nilabh accompanied by Bijaydai. We were there in Chaukhambha with the family of the Uday editor Durga Prasad Shrestha (his elder brother) in December 2006 for performing the Gaya Shraddha.
Next morning after a holy dip, I had witnessed the Aarti - with the day break the Sun rising - from the temple at Panch Ganga Ghat also seen in the video clippings of BHU Kulgeet on youtube.com with lyrics by Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar sung by Dr. Revati Sakalkar in Raag Darbari for their Kashi Darshan. Diwaker writes that all the banks of the Ganga are illuminated. Though not celebrated officially but has become a public function for over ten years when the Kashi Naresh, King of Banaras first lighted diya in memory of the martyrs. Boatmen earn handsomely this evening as even a small boat fetches Rs.5,000/- for an hour that attract the tourists. A stage is constructed on the Ganga for the Kashi Naresh and the King’s and Gorkha soldiers salute the martyrs. People gather at the ghat with diya lighted right from their home. Earlier fire crackers were burst but no longer since it was banned last year.
Children’s Day, 14th November, is my official birthday, i.e., date of birth recorded while being admitted in class VI in Tashi Namgyal High School (now Tashi Namgyal Academy) with late B. N. Singh more popularly known as M.A. Sir as the Head Master in 1956. My Buba and Thulo Mama Bhishma Pratap Pradhan had difficulty getting the exact date in English calendar. So, why not give the Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru’s date of birth celebrated as the Children’s Day as well for Chacha Nehru loved them very much!
Next morning after a holy dip, I had witnessed the Aarti - with the day break the Sun rising - from the temple at Panch Ganga Ghat also seen in the video clippings of BHU Kulgeet on youtube.com with lyrics by Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar sung by Dr. Revati Sakalkar in Raag Darbari for their Kashi Darshan. Diwaker writes that all the banks of the Ganga are illuminated. Though not celebrated officially but has become a public function for over ten years when the Kashi Naresh, King of Banaras first lighted diya in memory of the martyrs. Boatmen earn handsomely this evening as even a small boat fetches Rs.5,000/- for an hour that attract the tourists. A stage is constructed on the Ganga for the Kashi Naresh and the King’s and Gorkha soldiers salute the martyrs. People gather at the ghat with diya lighted right from their home. Earlier fire crackers were burst but no longer since it was banned last year.
Children’s Day, 14th November, is my official birthday, i.e., date of birth recorded while being admitted in class VI in Tashi Namgyal High School (now Tashi Namgyal Academy) with late B. N. Singh more popularly known as M.A. Sir as the Head Master in 1956. My Buba and Thulo Mama Bhishma Pratap Pradhan had difficulty getting the exact date in English calendar. So, why not give the Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru’s date of birth celebrated as the Children’s Day as well for Chacha Nehru loved them very much!
Lines of the Lata-song then once sung by Paljor Namgyal Girls’ School students in a function in our school with earlier one by Kishore Kumar are some of the songs that haunt me still:
Meethi meethi baaton se bachna jara
Duniya ke logon mein hai Jadu bhara
Khub cheez hai ilam jise
Koi chor bhi le na sake
Bharle khajana sara jamana
Jag mein rahega tera naam sada
(Shaikh Mukhtar’s Quaidi No. 911 - 1959lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri and music by Dattaram filmed on Meena Kumari and Daisy Irani)
Munna bada pyara,
Mummy ka dulara
Koi kahe chand,
Koi aankh ka tara!
Hanse to bhala lage
Roye to bhala lage
Mummy ko uske bina
Kuchh bhi achcha na lage
Jiyo Mere Lal
Tumko lage meri umar
Jiyo Mere Lal,
Jiyo Mere Lal!
(Musafir -1957 music by Salil Chaudhary filmed on Kishore Kumar, Kamini Kaushal and Nasir Hussein)
Before this, we were still in Banaras with our business house Harishankerlal Ramshankerlal Nepali established in 1887 at Chaukhambha running well, more popularly known as Nepali Kothi. One evening Buba had taken me to show Raj Kapoor’s classic Boot Polish (1953) screened at the Chitra cinema hall nearby Chowk. Not only the scene with the following song sung by Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle written by Shailendra with music by Shanker Jaikishan picturised on John Chacha played by veteran actor David Abraham with children that included Naaz and Ratan, but also the taste of hot gulab jamun in the interval that chilly winter evening is still fresh in my mind. I can get the scene from the film refreshed on youtube.com but not the taste and the moment of my childhood days we father-son shared together:
Nanhe Munne Bachche Tere Muththi mein kya hai
Nanhe Munne Bachche Tere Muththi mein kya hai
Muththi mein hai Takdir hamari
Muththi mein hai Takdir hamari
Hum ne Kismat ko bas mein kiya hai
Hum ne Kismat ko bas mein kiya hai
Bhole Bhale matwale Ankhon mein kya hai
Bhole Bhale matwale Ankhon mein kya hai
Ankhon mein ghoome Ummeedon ki Diwali
Ankhon mein ghoome Ummeedon ki Diwali
Aanewale Duniya ka Sapna saja hai
Aanewale Duniya ka Sapna saja hai
Children thank John Chacha singing;
John Chahcha tum kitne Achche
Tumhe Pyar karte sab Bachche
Humein batado aisa Kaam
Koi na kar sake hamein Badnam!
Self indulgence if not overbearing, I would like to share here that had I succumbed to the ill-fate meted out to me in 1998 readers would not have found this writer narrating his childhood days. I could come out of the slur and conspiracy against me to make it the Turning Point of my life. Immediately on reinstatement I had the opportunity to repay the society grateful celebrating a-month-long concluding functions for the Golden Jubilee of India’s Independence in the best manner ever. A colleague then even went on to suggest and tell me that one of his IAS batch-mates, just simple and straightforward like me, when suspended on a similar flimsy ground, had hung himself to death young. Unfortunately, he himself is no more amongst us as he could not stoop and conquer to survive this harsh world perhaps and swept off left for his heavenly abode within months of his retirement - May their soul rest in peace!
But the best to share here this day is the one by the legendary Mohammad Rafi with lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni on music composed by Ravi filmed on the comedian Johnny Walker from the Devendra Goel’s Door ki Awaz:
Hum bhi agar Bachche hote
Hum bhi agar Bachche hote
Naam hamara hota Gabloo Babloo
Khane ko milte Laddoo
To Duniya kahati
Happy Birthday to you!
To celebrate life on the Birth Day today, I salute the Nation having born here 65 years ago and remember Hasrat Jaipuri’s lines Shanti Devi Mishra singing to Naushad Ali’s music for Sajid Khan in Mehboob Khan’s Son of India (1962)of my early days in the Darjeeling Government College joining NCC classes to learn rifle shooting following the Chinese aggression:
Nanha Munha Rahi hoon
Desh ka Sipahi hoon
Bolo mere sang
Jai Hind, Jai Hind, Jai Hind
Jai Hind, Jai Hind!
-----
Meethi meethi baaton se bachna jara
Duniya ke logon mein hai Jadu bhara
Khub cheez hai ilam jise
Koi chor bhi le na sake
Bharle khajana sara jamana
Jag mein rahega tera naam sada
(Shaikh Mukhtar’s Quaidi No. 911 - 1959lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri and music by Dattaram filmed on Meena Kumari and Daisy Irani)
Munna bada pyara,
Mummy ka dulara
Koi kahe chand,
Koi aankh ka tara!
Hanse to bhala lage
Roye to bhala lage
Mummy ko uske bina
Kuchh bhi achcha na lage
Jiyo Mere Lal
Tumko lage meri umar
Jiyo Mere Lal,
Jiyo Mere Lal!
(Musafir -1957 music by Salil Chaudhary filmed on Kishore Kumar, Kamini Kaushal and Nasir Hussein)
Before this, we were still in Banaras with our business house Harishankerlal Ramshankerlal Nepali established in 1887 at Chaukhambha running well, more popularly known as Nepali Kothi. One evening Buba had taken me to show Raj Kapoor’s classic Boot Polish (1953) screened at the Chitra cinema hall nearby Chowk. Not only the scene with the following song sung by Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle written by Shailendra with music by Shanker Jaikishan picturised on John Chacha played by veteran actor David Abraham with children that included Naaz and Ratan, but also the taste of hot gulab jamun in the interval that chilly winter evening is still fresh in my mind. I can get the scene from the film refreshed on youtube.com but not the taste and the moment of my childhood days we father-son shared together:
Nanhe Munne Bachche Tere Muththi mein kya hai
Nanhe Munne Bachche Tere Muththi mein kya hai
Muththi mein hai Takdir hamari
Muththi mein hai Takdir hamari
Hum ne Kismat ko bas mein kiya hai
Hum ne Kismat ko bas mein kiya hai
Bhole Bhale matwale Ankhon mein kya hai
Bhole Bhale matwale Ankhon mein kya hai
Ankhon mein ghoome Ummeedon ki Diwali
Ankhon mein ghoome Ummeedon ki Diwali
Aanewale Duniya ka Sapna saja hai
Aanewale Duniya ka Sapna saja hai
Children thank John Chacha singing;
John Chahcha tum kitne Achche
Tumhe Pyar karte sab Bachche
Humein batado aisa Kaam
Koi na kar sake hamein Badnam!
Self indulgence if not overbearing, I would like to share here that had I succumbed to the ill-fate meted out to me in 1998 readers would not have found this writer narrating his childhood days. I could come out of the slur and conspiracy against me to make it the Turning Point of my life. Immediately on reinstatement I had the opportunity to repay the society grateful celebrating a-month-long concluding functions for the Golden Jubilee of India’s Independence in the best manner ever. A colleague then even went on to suggest and tell me that one of his IAS batch-mates, just simple and straightforward like me, when suspended on a similar flimsy ground, had hung himself to death young. Unfortunately, he himself is no more amongst us as he could not stoop and conquer to survive this harsh world perhaps and swept off left for his heavenly abode within months of his retirement - May their soul rest in peace!
But the best to share here this day is the one by the legendary Mohammad Rafi with lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni on music composed by Ravi filmed on the comedian Johnny Walker from the Devendra Goel’s Door ki Awaz:
Hum bhi agar Bachche hote
Hum bhi agar Bachche hote
Naam hamara hota Gabloo Babloo
Khane ko milte Laddoo
To Duniya kahati
Happy Birthday to you!
To celebrate life on the Birth Day today, I salute the Nation having born here 65 years ago and remember Hasrat Jaipuri’s lines Shanti Devi Mishra singing to Naushad Ali’s music for Sajid Khan in Mehboob Khan’s Son of India (1962)of my early days in the Darjeeling Government College joining NCC classes to learn rifle shooting following the Chinese aggression:
Nanha Munha Rahi hoon
Desh ka Sipahi hoon
Bolo mere sang
Jai Hind, Jai Hind, Jai Hind
Jai Hind, Jai Hind!
-----
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