Winners or Entertainers ?

Today, as I was having lunch at the school cafeteria, I heard a group of 3-4 students talking about lawn tennis. Back home, I used to watch this sport quite often, specially the Grand Slams, but here, I don't get a chance of watching them. Even if I would have got the scope, I doubt of utilising it.

They were talking about Roger Federer and arguing about the fact that who in the tennis world can beat him. Only one name came into picture, that of Rafael Nadal, who is unanimously accepted as the "king of clay" in the modern tennis arena. But he can only beat Federer in a clay court, whereas in all the other surfaces, Federer is practically unbeatable. His records speak for him. Federer has been winning the Wimbledon title for the last four years, the US open for the last 3 years, and the Australian Open thrice in the last four occassions. But he is yet to capture the French Open, where he has been beaten by Rafael Nadal three times in succession : in semi-finals in 2005, and in the finals of 2006 and 2007.

Isn't modern tennis getting too predictable? The three Grand Slams, barring the Rolland Garros, are being won by Roger, while the French Open by Nadal. This is the scenario for the last 3 years! Isn't that too long??

It is not Federer's fault that his opponents fail to beat him in most of the cases, but thinking in terms of a viewer, there has been very little twist in the tennis world for the last 3 years. When you can predict the results of all the major tournaments of the year beforehand and there is a very sleak chance that you'll go wrong, will you not lose interest in the game? While watching a tennis game featuring Federer or Nadal, it seems to me that the surface is being occupied by a robot, whose every movement is calculated, every nanosecond is syncronised to perfection, and the player can never make a mistake.


I agree to the fact that in a game , winning is vital. But winning is not the only thing people like to see. I still remember the matches between Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Andre Agassi and a few other true artists in the tennis court. I had always been a fan of Becker since childhood, its not that he used to win everytime, on the contrary his form used to go up and down very frequently. The same is true for Andre Agassi as well. They were the true entertainers who used to play the game only by sheer joy of the game itself. The results did not always reflect their class or style, nor they themselves were too much bothered about it.

That is the reason why we like Brian Lara more than Ricky Ponting, Viv Richards more than Sachin Tendulkar or Andre Agassi and Boris Becker more than Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Whenever the first group has played, they have added something to the game and have entertained the crowd to the hilt. People have always loved the game due to the presence of these personalities. In their absence, the game still continues, but loses much of its warmth, charm and beauty.

A worthy collection

This time, while coming back from home, I brought with me the book titled " Doshti Kishore uponnyas" authored by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. Although not a "kishore" any more I am with respect to age, but still now, I enjoy juvenile literature-----the likes of "thakurmar jhuli", the evergreen works of Lila Mazumdar, Narayan Gangopadhyay(after all, who can ever forget the great Tenida???), Premendra Mitra, and above all, the great Sukumar Ray (as a child, I had always nurtured the dream of being Pagla Dashu ). From time to time, I go back and read these books, and refresh myself. Back home, during exam time, specially after a disastrous exam performance, I used to come home tired and gloomy. But as soon as I opened "Tenida Samagra" and started reading one of the stories, all the sadness would disappear instantly and my heart would fill with joy and laughter.

Among the current active writers, I admire Shirshendu the most , considering juvenile literature . I still remember when I read Shirshedu for the first time. The book was called "Manojder adbhut baari", and from that time onwards, I have tried not to miss any single creation of him. Even now, the first story which I read from the Puja number of Anandamela is Shirshendu's. He posesses a unique power of creating a world for the children, a world of fantasy, humour, fun and joy. Once started, its very hard to restrict oneself before completing the story or the novel.

I like the way he builds the plot. Most of the stories are set in villages, where we get all sorts of people : rich, poor, stupid, shrewd, petty thieves, beggars, the Officer-in-Charge of the local police station, a madman, one or two wisemen and so on. All the characters are so natural with their own peculiar characteristics that the reader falls in love with them. Some characters are so unique and funny that one cannot stop laughing, like , the O.C , rather coming to the police station, is taking lessons in Ghazals, a Hunter, getting frustrated with himself, is using his rifle to clean the drain, the madman is lecturing a scientist about Newton's laws!!!!!

Another aspect of Shirshendu's novels is the presence of Ghosts ! Most of them are very well-behaved, they always try to help people,supply ideas as and when needed to the helpless, punish the villains and bring peace to the village. His creation of villains also are much enjoyable, one likes them rather than hating them. The most important thing is the absence of violence ! All the stories end with a positive note, where the evil-doers vow to do good and condemn their own evil deeds.

I have been reading the book I mentioned at the beginning for the last couple of weeks. Although five or six novels were read before, but it is always a pleasure to re-read these and go back to childhood, and cherish some sweet old memories!

Lastly, the list of the novels in the book goes like this:

1. Gour er koboch
2. Harano Kakatua
3. Golmaal
4. Chakrapur er Chakkar e
5. Chhayamoy
6. Sonar medel
7. Patalghor
8. Horipur er horek kaando
9. Dudhshayor er Dwip
10. Bipin Babur bipod.

Kabhi alvida na kehnaa

Yesterday night, after dinner, I was surfing through Youtube, looking for some video performances of my favourite singer Kishore Kumar. I got only a few, and the picture quality of those were not good unlike we are used to see in the internet. But I got something very special after that-----------an interview with Kishoreda , narrated and conducted by Ameen Sayani. Although the programme was brodcasted after Kishoreda's death, but it was really worth-watching. Many renowned film personalities talked about him, and some glimpses of an earlier interview of Kishoreda, taken by the incomparable Lata Mangeshkar, were also shown. I wish I could have watched that as well !

After the programme was finished, I thought for a while with astonishment--------a person, with no "formal training" of music, had done so many things that the normal human beings could not even think of those ! He has performed all the activities associated with movies : Acting, Directing, Producing, Music directing, lyricist, and over and above, singing------with such ease and perfection that sometimes one would feel that he must have possessed some super-human qualities ! As Lataji said, " Kishoreda was born with all the musical qualities. He was an in-born genius!"

Rightly so. Due to the fear of Dadamoni Ashoke Kumar, Kishoreda first started with acting, which in his own words, he did not like at all. But he gave a new meaning to the comedy genre of Bollywood. His movies were packed with bomblastic hilarious elements right from the beginning till the end. Those who have seen movies like Half Ticket, Baap re Baap, Bhagaam Bhaag, Chalti ka naam gaari, Jhumroo, Padosan, Dilli ka thug--to name only a few-----can understand my point. Apart from acting in comedies, he directed a movie called Door Gagan ki Chhaon mein-------which, according to the critics, is a classic and Kishoreda, with his natural talent, proved that he can act in serious roles as well.

I dare not to say anything regarding his playback singing. I only wish sometimes if I could see at least one of his live performances! It is very hard to believe , after hearing his songs, that he had never been trained formally in his life. If I like to pick a dozen of my most favourite songs sung by him, the list, as of now, will look like this(in no particular order):

Aa chal ke tujhe (Door gagan ki chhaon mein)
Chingari koi bhadke (Amar prem)
Badi sooni sooni hai (Mili)
Dukhi man mere (Funtoosh)
Chanda o chanda (Laakhon mein ek)
Woh sham kuchh ajeeb thi (Khamoshi)
Pal Pal dil ke paas (Blackmail)
Aye tum yaad mujhe (Mili)
Koi humdum na raaha (Jhumroo)
Mere naina sawan bhadon (Mehbooba)
Kuchh to log kahenge (Amar prem)
Main hoon Jhumroo (Jhumroo)

Lastly, I would like to say, in his own words, a couplet :
Aye tum yaad mujhe gaaney lagee har dhadkan
Khusboo layee pawan, mehkaa chandan.

Awaiting a new look

It was my second or third day in this country. That afternoon, I went to a food station located opposite to my apartment, and ordered a hamburger. The girl in the counter told me something, which I figured out as "Wanna sit?" I answered her, " No, it's to go !" . I saw her frowning, she again repeated the same words. This time, getting a bit irritated, I gave the same answer, in a harsher tone. She did not say me anything, and after a minute or two, handed me the hamburger. Then I asked her confidently, " How much????" To my utter surprise, she told the same thing which sounded like " Wanna sit"!!!!! I took a few seconds to figure out what she was saying, then everything was crystal clear to me. The hamburger was priced one dollar and six cents, which the girl told as "One-o-six"!!!!!!!!!!!! This she was telling from the very beginning, which I was interpreting in a completely wrong way. Giving her the money, both of us smiled and I came out from the shop.

This was my first encounter with McDonald's , which was located just opposite to my apartment. Although the entire experience was not fully entertaining, but it gave me the start required for me. I stopped worrying about breakfasts and lunch. Whenever I had problem with cooking, I used to go to the McDonald's and filled my stomach.

The french fries available there was simply mind-blowing. Initially, I liked the crispy chicken sandwiches also very much, but the main reason of eating there were the fries. Often, I used to cook "daal" at home, and had a meal with rice, daal and french fries! Although as time went by, my visit to the McDonald's got fewer and fewer (may be once in a month or two),but it was always the last hope for me. When nothing would work, I always knew that McDonald's is there, waiting for me with the crispy sandwich and french fries.

But when I came back to Wichita this time after completing the Connecticut trip, I saw that the McDonald's is gone!!! The place is filled with a group of people, and some constructions were going on. It was a great disappointment for me. The location and usefulness of this shop----both were very favourable for me, and I was not happy at all by its disappearence. The nearest food station was 2-3 blocks away, and it was not as good as the McDonald's.

Last Friday, I was glancing through the University newspaper, when I saw the news that the McDonald's is going to reopen at the same location! They are rebuilding the shop, and ths time, it will be an entirely different one in terms of appearence " for the first time in Wichita" as they said. No doubt it was a great news for me. I am waiting for August, when I hope to see my old McDonald's in a new look, and will at least buy myself some french fries on the opening day.