GETTING HIGH ON NUMBERS

If Shubman Gill can score a double century, so can I. Only our fields are different.

Shubman scores double centuries on the Cricket ground. My field of activity is the blog on which this is my 200th post in 6 years.

Interestingly, I find life is full of numbers. The other day, our physiotherapist asked me how long I have been playing golf. I said "60 years" and she could just utter a "wow". 

Out of these 60, it is now the 36th year at the Army Golf Course in Delhi Cantt. After retirement from the Navy in 1989, we settled down in Delhi and I started playing at this Course and have seen it grow from 9 holes to 12 and then to full 18 since the late '90s. With a number of restaurants and snack bars on the high ground next to 1st and 10th tees and 9th and 18th greens, it can hold its own against the more famous Delhi Golf Club and is an attractive spot for dinner in the moonlight or just a cup of coffee at the end of a round of golf.

35 years ago when I joined the Club, I had many 15-16 year olds caddying for me. Today, it is unbelievable to see them as 50+s on the verge of becoming grandfathers if not one already!

Unbelievable too that I left the Navy over 35 years ago. I was commissioned on 01 January 1960, over 65 years from now. The 1971 War during which I was on the aircraft carrier Vikrant as Fleet Communications Officer of the newly formed Eastern Fleet, took place 54 years ago. It's been 47 years since I commanded Katchall and 40 since commanding Trishul which is when I went to Singapore as the Defence Adviser. 

On 22 July this year, it was the 70th anniversary of our Course, 14th, joining the NDA. I remember my visit to the Academy earlier in the year when I met cadets of the 153rd Course who had been allotted numbers of 45000-46000 compared to mine, 2134. Now it is the 154th Course that has joined since last month and their numbers will be approaching the 50000 mark!

After changing residence every 2-3 years or even oftener while in the Navy, it is our 26th year in Aradhana. Here too, we have seen children growing into adults, marrying and then becoming parents!

Sometime ago, I was on my walk in Nehru Park when a young man caught up with me, wished me with a smile and asked me how old I was. I gave him my age reversing the digits. He looked at me strangely wondering why I looked so old for my age! I just had to put the poor fellow at ease by giving him the digits in correct order.

Contrarily, there is the sweet song of my school days, over 70 years ago, "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane" by Ames Brothers:

"The naughty lady of Shady Lane, has the town in a whirl

The naughty lady of Shady Lane, me, oh, my, oh, what a girl....

Our town was peaceful and quiet, before she came on the scene

The lady has stared a riot, disturbing the suburban routine....

You should see how she carries on, with her admirers galore

She must be giving them quite a thrill, the way they flock to her door....

The things they're trying to pin on her, won't hold much water I'm sure

Beneath the powder and fancy lace, there beats a heart sweet and pure....

The naughty lady of Shady Lane, so delectable, quite respectable

And she's only nine days old!"

Where have all the years gone? 'The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind!'

The years go by, memories remain. Let me end with a few lines from the beautiful, touching song 'Memory' from the superhit musical "Cats" with lyrics by Trevor Nunn and composition by Andrew Lloyd Webber-

"Memory, all alone in the moonlight, I can smile at the old days

I was beautiful then, I remember the time I knew what happiness was

Let the memory live again....

I must wait for the sunrise, I must think of a new life and I mustn't give in

When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory too

And a new day will begin."

IT'S THE WORDS THAT MAKE A SONG

Sometime back, I came across this old Victorian adage, "Kissing a man without a moustache is like eating an egg without salt." Add a beard and the dish is complete with pepper and sauce! 

I am clean-shaven but am thankful my wife is a vegetarian.

Songs definitely need good words, or lyrics as they say, to make them more listenable and meaningful. A song cannot be whole and evoke its intended range of emotions without appropriate words. As the old group Ink Spots sang in their number "To Each His Own", "What good is a song if the words just don't belong". 

Back in the first half of the Nineteenth century, the famous composer Felix Mendelssohn composed a series of short piano pieces which he titled "Songs Without Words". Efforts were made to set lyrics to them but Mendelssohn objected as he said words would make the music he wanted to express 'too definite'. So his composition, though brilliant, remained in the category of 'instrumental music' and not quite 'songs' which should have expressive vocals.

Remember Francis Lai's music in "Love Story" which won him an Oscar? After the movie was released, the lyricist Carl Sigman gave words to its theme and Andy Williams sang the super hit, "Where Do I Begin" which when listened to even now, would flash touching scenes from the movie in the mind and leave one teary-eyed. Some lyrics-

"Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a love can be

The sweet love story that is older than the sea....

She fills my heart with very special things

With angel songs, with wild imaginings

She fills my soul with so much love that anywhere I go, I'm never lonely....

How long does it last? Can love be measured by the hours in a day?

I know I'ii need her 'til the stars all burn away

And she'll be there."

The Bee Gees put all their belief in words to win someone's heart in the romantic ballad titled...."Words", what else! Barry Gibbs sang in his unique falsetto voice, "It's only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away."

Songs are mostly about 'love', from being attracted to someone, to falling in love, partings, heartbreaks and all. So let me run through the words of some of my favourites to see how emotions are conveyed.

We start with the sound advice in the song "Some Enchanted Evening" by Ezio Pinza in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific"-

"Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger

You may see a stranger across a crowded room

And somehow you know, you'll know even then

That somewhere you'll see her again and again....

Then fly to her side, and make her your own

For, all through your life, you may dream all alone

Once you have found her, never let her go."

The Beatles had a tremendous talent for simple, short lyrics that would immediately appeal to young and old alike. So they sang "I Saw Her Standing There", "She was just seventeen, you know what I mean, and the way she looked was way beyond compare. I could have danced with another, but I saw her standing there."

To advance love, their song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" says shyly, "I think you'll understand, when I say that something, I want to hold your hand, I want to hold your hand. Oh, please, say to me, you'll let me be your man. And please, say to me, you'll let me hold your hand."

Louis Armstrong takes it further in "A Kiss to Build a Dream On", "Give me a kiss to build a dream on, and my imagination will thrive upon that kiss. Sweetheart, I ask no more than this, a kiss to build a dream on."

The Rolling Stones go all the way with "Let's spend the night together, now I need you more than ever, let's spend the night together."

And then love happens. In the musical "Oklahoma", the two lovers start by warning each other to be discreet lest people misinterpret their intentions. But finally, they decide to throw caution to the winds unmindful of what people may say:-

"Don't sigh and gaze at me, your sighs are so like mine

Your eyes mustn't glow like mine, people will say we're in love....

Let people say we're in love

Starlight looks well on us, let the stars beam from above

Who cares if they tell on us

Let people say we're in love."

A couple can't always be together. Parting is 'such sweet sorrow' and painful though the pain is alleviated with the promise of a return. Al Martino or Englebert Humperdinck in "Blue Spanish Eyes"- "Teardrops are falling from your Spanish eyes. Please, please don't cry, this is just adios and not goodbye. Soon I'll return, bringing you all the love your heart can hold. Please say 'si, si', say you and your Spanish eyes will wait for me."

It could get worse if one party was not willing. The Beatles in "Hello Goodbye"- "You say 'goodbye', I say 'hello, hello, hello', I don't know why you say 'goodbye', I say 'hello'."

In "If You Go Away", English version of the French song, "Ne Me Quitte Pas", the singer urges the loved one to stay while fearing that the latter has already decided to go-

"But if you stay, I'll make you a day, like no day has been or will be again

I'll sail on your smile, I'll ride on your touch, I'll talk to your eyes, that I loved so much

Oh, but if you go, I won't cry, though the good is gone from the word goodbye,

If you go away, if you go away, if you go away."

Love can have a fierce stranglehold on one as Shirley Bassey sang in "Never, Never, Never", this time an English version of the Italian hit song, "Grande, Grande, Grande" which I first heard on a visit to Rome in 1976:-

"You make me laugh, you make me cry, you make me live, you make me die for you,

You make me sing, you make me sad, you make me glad, you make me mad for you.

I love you, hate you, love you, hate you, but I'll want you till the world stops turning

For whatever you do

I never, never, never want to be in love with anyone but you."

Remorse over love gone wrong is painfully expressed in "Yesterday" by The Beatles and in the Tom Jones version in which he seems to be actually crying; "Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play, now I need a place to hide away....Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say. I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday."

Another heartbreak song: Sinead O'Connor in "Nothing Compares 2 U"- "It's been seven hours and fifteen days since you took your love away....I can see whomever I choose, I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant, but nothing, I said nothing can take away these blues. 'Cause nothing, I said nothing compares to you." 

If love was true, the lovers would realise that they must return and be there for each other. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell sang:

"You're all I need to get by

Like the sweet morning dew, I took one look at you

And it was plain to see, you were my destiny

With my arms open wide, I threw away my pride

I'll sacrifice for you, dedicate my life for you."

We are now all set for a 1957 song written by Burt Bacharach and sung by Marty Robbins, "The Story of My Life"-

"Someday I'm gonna write the story of my life

I'll tell about the night we met and how my heart can't forget

The way you smiled at me

I want the world to know the story of my life

The moment your lips met mine and that first exciting time

I held you close to me

The sorrow when our love was breaking up, the memory of a broken heart

Then later the joy of making up never, never more to part."

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