A LUNCH TO REMEMBER

 

As part of ‘Swarnim Vijay Parv’, a festival commemorating the golden jubilee of the glorious victory of our Armed Forces in the 1971 War, the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) hosted a lunch on 16 December for naval officers who were part of the action, and their wives. Akhila and I were invited.

As we walked in, wondering how many veterans I would meet, I sighted an old man (by which I mean older than me!) sitting on the sofa. After all these years, he would not have been easy to recognise but fortunately, I had received a few WhatsApp messages about him recently including his photographs. He was Vice Admiral SH Sarma who was the Eastern Fleet Commander during the War. He entered his 100th year on 1 December and I never expected to see him as he is a resident of Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. But the CNS persisted on his coming and he graciously accepted and came accompanied by his younger son, Navin, and daughter-in-law.

I went up to greet him and started introducing myself. He cut me short saying “I know who you are, you are Ravi Sharma and you were my Fleet Communications Officer. I remember you were also part of our minesweeping effort. After the War, you went to Staff College and stood first in the Course.” 

I was astounded at his memory particularly the last bit as Staff College rankings are not usually disclosed although Cmde JG (Podgy) Nadkarni, then Chief Instructor (Navy) and later CNS, had hinted at that during my final interview at the College.

I was absolutely delighted to meet Admiral Sarma and we chatted for a long time recalling the War and Vizag days including his later stint as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command when I was commanding Katchall. He then presented me his autography, “My Years At Sea” and a bunch of picture post cards with photos of himself and ships he had commanded.

Sitting with him was Commodore Inderjit Sharma who had commanded Nirghat, the missiles of which sank the Pak destroyer Khaibar, the minesweeper Muhafiz and a merchant ship besides setting a few Karachi harbour oil tankers on fire. He was awarded Vir Chakra for his actions. Inderjit and I were neighbours in Bombay during the ‘80s and his charming wife, Rekha, taught Ruchir in Cathedral School and remembered him fondly.

Then there was Rear Admiral SK (Gigi) Gupta, Squadron Commander INAS 300, who right at the outset of the War on 4 December, led the Seahawks in air attacks on Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong. I remember the anxious moments on board Vikrant during the first time they were in the air. All of us on the carrier were overjoyed when they returned safely and the air handlers garlanded Gigi as soon as he alighted from his Seahawk. He was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra.  

It is worth recalling that Gigi Gupta and Inderjit were the first in their respective sectors to carry out attacks on Pakistan, Gigi with air attack in the East and Inderjit with missile attack in the West!

Among others, there was Cdr RK (Rocky) Mehta, Signals Communications Officer, Vikrant. He and I worked closely during the War and he was most co-operative and helpful to me during those days. As he is a resident of Delhi and an avid golfer, we have played a lot of golf together including a game in which he was attacked by a bird much like in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie!

A lady walked up to me and introduced herself as the daughter of Cdr Kulbhushan (Ustaad) Sood. Ustaad was the First Lieut on Vikrant, a champion golfer and my mentor and senior companion in my early years of golf. In the days before the War when we were lying off the Andaman Islands with time on our hands, he had rigged up a net on the quarterdeck of Vikrant where we could swing a club and hit balls with all our might without causing any damage to the ship or losing a ball.

Among serving officers, I met some who had just entered the Navy in my final years and remembered me. Vice Admiral Adhir Arora, Chief Hydrographer, recalled his time as Midshipman on Trishul in 1985 when I was commanding the ship. He said he cherished the memories of those days and they had a great time on board besides learning a lot.

It felt nice to know that at least for some, I am not 'that easy to forget'!

 

LESSER TOLD STORIES OF THE 1971 INDO-PAK WAR

 (This piece appears in today's Times Of India online edition under the heading 'How INS Vikrant Cleverly Evaded A Pak Submarine'. I had given it the heading as above. The sub-heading in TOI is their own too though I don't quite agree with it. Anyway, here is the main piece as it is printed there.)

The 1971 war was the first time that the Indian Navy was pressed into action, with it having been kept out of the loop during the 1965 Indo-Pak war due to some obscure fear of escalating the conflict. Our largest ship Vikrant was in fact undergoing repairs in a dry dock when war broke out in 1965. The Navy had been hurting ever since; in peacetime, the Armed Forces exercise regularly to be ready for war. When war comes, and if an arm is not assigned a role, then what is the purpose of that Arm? Pakistan naval ships in 1965 had fired a few shells at random on Dwarka port in Gujarat. The shells caused no damage, but Pakistan’s huge publicity of the attack made our Navy seem inept. Vice Admiral SM Nanda, who was then commanding the Western Naval Command, prophetically stated in a 1969 interview to the Bombay tabloid ‘Blitz’ that “...if war comes again, I assure you that we shall carry it right into the enemy’s biggest ports like Karachi”.

That assurance was fulfilled by the missile boat attack on Karachi two years later, and in fact spearheaded by Admiral Nanda, who was now Chief of Naval Staff. He insisted and succeeded in obtaining a major role for the Indian Navy in 1971. Despite the short operating range of our missile boats, innovative planning was devised for attacks on Karachi and Pakistan ships in the Arabian Sea, while a far more effective role was seen for Vikrant by deploying her off East Pakistan to provide support to our Army and attack coastal targets leaving the Air Force to focus on inland targets. The ships, led by Vikrant and its air surveillance, would bottle up the Bay of Bengal and prevent reinforcements of men and material either reaching or escaping East Pakistan.

Vikrant had been facing a persistent problem with a leak in one of her four boilers, but after repairs to the extent possible in Bombay, it was ordered to sail for the eastern coast to be ready for quick action if war was to be declared. Utmost secrecy was required to keep her movements concealed from Pakistan to preserve the element of surprise, as well as for Vikrant’s own safety as she was the main target for Pakistan’s Navy. For us, the carrier’s deployment off the east coast had an added advantage: only one Pak submarine, Ghazi, had the endurance to operate that far from its home base at Karachi.

Covering such a large ship’s tracks aren’t easy, however, and an elaborate plan was conceived to conceal Vikrant’s movements. Dummy signal traffic was generated from other locations to give the impression that the carrier was operating elsewhere. This was backed by other ruses: for example, with dummy signals indicating that Vikrant was near Cochin, food and other supplies purportedly to meet her demands were rushed to Cochin even though the carrier had already crossed over to the east.

Until 1971, our Navy had just one fleet based in Bombay. Admiral Nanda decided that for better control and coordination, there should be two fleets, Western and Eastern. Consequently, the Eastern Fleet was formed on 1 November 1971 with Vikrant as the flagship and a few other warships. Rear Admiral SH Sarma was appointed Eastern Fleet Commander and I, the Fleet Communications Officer on his operational staff. At that time, I was busy with my job as an instructor in Signal School, Cochin, and was unaware of these new developments. So when my boss, Commander ‘Clinker’ Karve, told me about my new appointment, I told him to quit playing April Fool 6 months late – or early for that matter – as there was no such thing as an Eastern Fleet! He had to show me the written orders to get me to start packing my bags for Vishakhapatnam (Vizag), which was designated as the base for the Eastern Fleet.

Admiral Sarma, along with his staff, embarked on Vikrant on 6 November by helicopter off Vizag and we sailed for Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. The Fleet eventually moved to the northernmost island, Port Cornwallis, to be within hours of striking distance at enemy shore targets. Throughout all this while, the Fleet followed a strict regime of radio discipline in order not to give away our position to Pakistan, which could intercept our radio communications and thus fix our location. No signals to shore authorities were made while at sea; instead, naval facilities ashore at Port Blair were used for communicating with Naval Head Quarters and the Eastern Naval Command HQ at Vizag. Port Cornwallis lacked any naval organization and when the need arose to contact Vizag for some urgent supplies, I found a police wireless station on the island to transmit our signals from.

Meanwhile, Ghazi kept operating off Vizag in search of Vikrant, believing it to be there thanks to the dummy traffic and radio silence, when, in fact, the carrier had already moved to the Andaman Islands. Ghazi sank off Vizag on the night of 3-4 December, ceasing to be a threat. Vikrant launched air attacks at Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong and other ports immediately on commencement of war, catching Pakistan by complete surprise and our Fleet was exercising total control over the Bay of Bengal.

When planning for the war, Indira Gandhi and the three service chiefs considered the possibility of a third country intervening. China was thought to be a risk as it could potentially come to the aid of Pakistan by creating tension along the Sino-Indian border, thus tying up large numbers of our forces. Winter was chosen for the operations so that snow would prevent any meddling by the Chinese.

As it happened, it was the US that threatened intervention. On 10 December, it announced with much fanfare that the Seventh Fleet, normally operating in the Pacific Ocean, would enter the Bay of Bengal. Gandhi summoned Admiral Nanda, who told her that if the US Navy interfered with our ships, it would be an act of war. He wondered if the US would really want that but believed that the US was only trying to bully us, and that we should fearlessly continue with our operations. He also said that he was going to tell his ships that if they come across American ships, they should exchange identities and invite their Captains for a drink! Gandhi was quite satisfied with the Admiral’s answer.

At sea, we learnt that a US Task Force led by their biggest aircraft carrier, the nuclear- powered Enterprise, had been directed to sail into the Bay of Bengal. US National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger, wanted this widely publicized with the ships sailing through the Malacca Straits in broad daylight. The Commanding Officer of one of our Fleet ships, Beas, sent a signal by light to the Fleet Commander, Admiral Sarma, asking what our ships were to do should they encounter the Seventh Fleet. The Admiral’s reply was short and crisp: “Exchange identities and wish them the time of day”. Morale on Vikrant was high and everyone’s attitude was, ‘Let’s carry on with our job and tackle any situation as it develops’. As it happened, we never encountered any US ship and saw the war through to the birth of Bangladesh.

Admiral Nanda and Admiral Elmo R Zumwalt, who was then head of the US Navy as Chief of Naval Operations, have described these events in detail in their respective autobiographies. Admiral Zumwalt wrote that despite diplomatic pressure by the US on Gandhi, nothing deterred her from going to war. Henry Kissinger was enraged and ordered Enterprise and other ships to be deployed in the Bay of Bengal. When Admiral Zumwalt asked Kissinger what his ships were supposed to do if they came across the Indian ships, Kissinger replied: “That is your problem”. Admiral Zumwalt wisely told his ships to stay away from East Pakistan and to operate south of Sri Lanka. Nowonder we never even saw them on our radar screens.

Years later, after both Chiefs had retired, Admiral Zumwalt came to India and met Admiral Nanda. The former stated that he was worried that should the ships of the two Navies meet during the war, it might lead to an inadvertent situation. When Admiral Nanda told him that his instructions to Indian ships were to invite the US Captains for a drink, Admiral Zumwalt responded, “We need not have worried!”

It seems the ordered entry of US ships into the Bay of Bengal caused more anxiety to their naval personnel than it did to ours.

Tailpiece: The meeting between Gandhi and Admiral Nanda on entry of the US ships took place when the Eastern Fleet was at sea. Any instructions from Admiral Nanda to Admiral Sarma could only be through a radio signal which would have been seen by me. I do not recall any such signal and Admiral Sarma’s reply to CO Beas seemed to be totally on the spur of the moment. I have often wondered at the similarity of the language of both the Admirals- was it just pure telepathy?

Ravi Sharma is a retired naval officer who now lives in New Delhi and enjoys blogging his memoirs.



TO EACH HIS OWN

 It's amazing how a remark in passing can trigger a totally different memory!

The old man was playing golf with two friends. In front of them was a foursome. After four holes, two of the foursome called it quits while the other two continued. After one hole, they cut short to the 8th hole and finding the tee occupied, moved somewhere else out of sight of the old man's threesome. Confused by this odd behaviour, one of the threesome remarked, "To each his own."

That was enough to take the old man 70 years back in time. In the early 1950s, there used to be a programme on Radio Ceylon which played numbers requested by its listeners usually dedicated to a near and dear one on a birthday, anniversary or just to express love. The signature tune for the programme was a 1946 hit, "To Each His Own", sung by a group called The Ink Spots. That song itself was good enough to be heard again and again as a sheer poem of delightfully lovely verses. It was short and sweet, so here it is in full:

'A rose must remain with the sun and the rain

Or its lovely promise won't come true,

To each his own, to each his own

And my own is you.

What good is a song if the words don't belong

And a dream must be a dream for two.

No good alone, to each his own

For me there's you.

If a flame is to grow there must be a glow,

To open each door there's a key

I need you I know, I can't let you go

Your touch means too much to me.

Two lips must insist on two more to be kissed

Or they'll never know what love can do.

To each his own, I've found my own

One and only you.'

A SEA VIEW

Repeating my piece published in Times of India on 30 November 2010. May interest you .

26 November will mark two years since terrorists struck the Taj in Mumbai and tried to decimate the hotel. They failed to break the spirit of the Taj and whatever damage they caused has been repaired and the hotel functions smoothly again. As an old seadog, I have my own memories of the hotel.

In the years before the old Bombay shoreline got cluttered up with ungainly skyscrapers, naval officers were familiar with the Taj as a navigational landmark whether they visited the hotel or not. The Taj Dome was a prominent spot on the naval chart (map) and was frequently used for taking a bearing to fix the position of the ship, checking the compass error by using it as a transit with another landmark such as the Rajabhai Clocktower, or for making a run-in for anchoring the ship. 

The Taj though is within walking distance from the Naval Dockyard and that makes it very accessible to naval personnel. The Sea Lounge was a frequent haunt from where one could look back at one’s own ship and at ships coming in and out of the harbour.

On one occasion we had a cocktail party on board which went on late into the night. Three of us, Jayanto Roychowdhry, Tally-ho Talwar and I decided to go out and eat at the Sea Lounge. We ordered Swedish Open Sandwiches and the waiter brought a big tray with a large assortment of them. We all had one each and were hesitating to have more when Roy Chow averred we could eat as many as we liked and would only be charged for one much like a buffet. So we had three to four each and when the bill came we were stupefied to see that we had been charged for each and every piece! As only Tally-ho was carrying his wallet, he had to shell out the cash for which he curses us to this day!

When one wanted to impress a girlfriend, there was the Blow-Up, India’s first real discotheque. The music and the psychedelic lights were mind-blowing. With songs like the Rolling Stones’ “I can’t get no satisfaction”, the night would be most satisfactorily spent.

Very late at night with all its restaurants closed, the Taj provided a reference point for the Bade Miyan stall which was located just behind the hotel building. Fresh, succulent kababs could be had there till the early hours of the morning at very affordable prices. The Navy was introduced to it by 'Pedro' Khanna, a roly-poly bachelor who frequented the place often. Bade Miyan became so popular that he would be called on board to cater for parties. I believe his son is following in his father's footsteps.

I am now only an occasional visitor to Mumbai. When I do, I hope the Sea Lounge will serve Swedish Open Sandwiches and this time I will happily pay for more than one! 

REMEMBERING ADMIRAL CHATTERJI

 

Today, 22 November, is Admiral A.K.Chatterji's birth anniversary. Time to remember this extraordinary naval officer. 

I had written two pieces on him which were included in the book "The Admiral Who Shed His Vice". The title was based on his promotion from Vice Admiral to an Admiral. Here, I have combined my two pieces in one for those who may not have seen them and may be interested to read about him and my association with him.

In May 1965, I was cooling my heels in a cushy job as a Divisional Officer at 'J' Squadron, NDA Kharakvasla, looking after 100-odd cadets. Out of the blue, one fine morning I was summoned to the Battalion Commander’s office and told to catch the first available train to New Delhi for an interview for the appointment of Flag Lt to the Commandant, National Defence College (NDC). At that time, I did not even know what NDC stood for and who its Commandant was!

On arrival at the NDC, I met the incumbent Flag Lt who eyed me commiseratingly and hastened to add that he had played no part in disturbing me out of my peaceful stay in Kharakvasla and that the Commandant, Vice Admiral AK Chatterji had picked my name out of the short list forwarded by the NHQ. With that, I was ushered into the Admiral’s office and that was the first time I saw him.

Without any preamble, the Admiral shot the question, ‘will you take up the job as my Flag Lt?’ I was stunned by the suddenness of it all particularly as I did not know I had an option! Nobody before or thereafter, ever gave me a choice and all my appointments were by an NHQ letter directing me to such-and-such appointment DTBR, which all knowledgable naval personnel know stands for ‘date to be reported’ on assuming the appointment. A ‘yessir’ shot out of my mouth and I was told to go back to NDA, pick up my belongings and return to Delhi pronto.

As it turned out, that ‘yessir’ was the smartest reply I ever uttered for it gave me the opportunity to be close to, observe and learn from perhaps the most intelligent, professional and affable person I have known. It would be presumptuous on my part to list his numerous attributes and achievements. Very briefly though, he was the architect of the modern Indian Navy and a lot of credit for the Navy’s success in the 1971 war should be attributed to him as the acquisition of the missile boats was his brainchild with the project aptly named ‘AK' boats after his initials. Also, the acquisition of submarines and the concept of two fleets each with an aircraft carrier were proposed by him in a ten year plan paper as early as 1947 when at the age of 32, he was Director of Naval Plans in the NHQ. Although approved by the government of the day, the plans remained largely in limbo till fittingly, Admiral Chatterji took over as Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) in 1966 and began the process of implementing them..

Among his other accomplishments, he was the first Indian Captain of the cruiser Delhi at the age of 35. His handling of that large ship was legendary. He was the first full Admiral in the Indian Navy and after a 4-year term, retired at the age of 55. Today the retiring age of the CNS is 62 and not all are able to complete their 3-year term!

A big benefit of being his Flag Lt was that it gave me an opportunity to be close to his wonderful family. My engagement took place in Delhi and immediately thereafter, Akhila and I proceeded to his house to seek his and Mrs. Chatterji’s blessings. Both of them had always been extremely kind and loving and Mrs. Chatterji continued to shower us with her affection and gifts even after the Admiral had passed away. His elder daughter Bula (Purobi) and her husband Deb Mukharji I have known from the time of their engagement while I was at the NDC. The wedding took place soon after and I never fail to remind them that I was responsible for organizing the ceremony! The younger daughter Tuktuk (Probhati) and her husband Shantanu Mukherjee, who was with Air India, were together with us in Singapore when I was posted in the High Commission as the Defence Adviser and their son Mohit and our children studied together at the United World College. So a short appointment of a year as Flag Lt laid the foundation of a lifelong relationship which Akhila and I strongly cherish.

In a lighter vein, I must recount an unforgettable incident. I was told on taking over my appointment that the Admiral had a very short temper. Somehow, I was lucky never to have been in the firing line while at the NDC. But the fear lurked and I missed incurring his wrath a year later by a hair’s breadth or should I say, by a few rail level crossings!

The Admiral had become the CNS and Avinash Bhatia was his Flag Lt. I learnt that they were proceeding to Kanpur for some official function which coincided with my friend and coursemate, Premvir Das’s wedding. I asked Avinash if I could hitch a ride in the IAF aircraft and he got the Admiral’s OK.

On arrival at Kanpur airport, Army personnel met us, quickly escorted us to a couple of staff cars and spirited us away to far-off Kamala Retreat where arrangements were made for our stay. En route, we encountered a number of level crossings most of which were open so that we made the road journey quite fast. On reaching the Retreat, Admiral and Mrs. Chatterji were taken to their suite and Avinash and I to ours. We then asked the Liaison Officer about our baggage whereupon he retorted, “What baggage?” In all the hurry and flurry, the baggage had been completely forgotten and so was the Admiral’s steward! Frantic efforts were made to contact the airport but given Kanpur’s telecommunications of those days, the efforts were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the Admiral kept ringing us up to inquire about the baggage and we kept putting him off by reminding him of the level crossings. But we could sense that the Admiral’s fuse was getting shorter by the minute! 

Finally, we got through to the airport and were told that the aircraft had flown back to Delhi and the ATC had no knowledge of any baggage or the missing steward! The earth shook under our feet and Avinash and I started contemplating a career out of the Navy. There was nothing left to do except make a clean breast of it to the Admiral.

Just then, a 3-tonner arrived with the very harassed Admiral’s steward. Fortunately, the worthy had offloaded the baggage from the plane, contacted the Army and requisitioned a vehicle to get to us!

The Admiral was not told of the near disaster, the level crossings were blamed for the delay and the rest of the stay proceeded smoothly. We not only kept our jobs but lasted in the Navy till long after the incident. The Steward was told that he would go far if he kept his mouth shut which he did!

The Admiral was a simple and honest person who endeared himself to all. He would drive to the NDC and back in his personal car eschewing the use of staff car. On tours, gifts such as a bottle of scotch would be shared with the team of officers accompanying him.

Incredibly, our government never conferred any award on him!

DORIS MARY ANNE KAPELHOFF or simply DORIS DAY

Thoughts come and go but some linger. Presently, my mind is on Doris Day and so I decided to revisit her songs.

First, a little about her life. Of German heritage whose grandparents migrated to the US, Doris Day was named Doris Mary Anne Kapelhoff at birth. She wanted to be a dancer but a car accident injured her right leg badly and she decided to switch to singing. She took lessons and her inspiration was Ella Fitzgerald. Soon, her tremendous potential was recognized and she was hired as a professional singer. Her employer, Barney Rapp, felt her name was too long and after her rendition of the song “Day After Day”, shortened her name to Doris Day. Her first hit was “Sentimental Journey” in 1945 after which she went from strength to strength and was considered a singer as good as Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. From 1949 to 1958, she was No. 1 female vocalist on the US Billboard winning Oscars for Best Original Song for “Secret Love” in the movie “Calamity Jane” in ’54 and and “Que Sera Sera” in ’57.

In the ‘60s, she earned fame as a top actress and made many films with Rock Hudson such as “Pillow Talk” for which she won an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, “Lover Come Back” and “Send Me No Flowers”. Rock Hudson was her lifelong friend but they never married perhaps because, as we surprisingly learnt only after his death, he was gay. In later life, she became an animal welfare activist and lived to the age of 97. She passed away on 13 May 2019, coincidentally 2 1/2 years to the day!

Her married life was not happy and she had four unsuccessful marriages. Fortunately, that does not seem to have affected her singing which was sweet, soft and hopeful though touchingly emotional and romantic.

Reflecting her positive outlook, her songs were not about heartbreaks. But she sang about being careful in giving her heart only to someone who would promise to give all his love in return. “If I Give My Heart To You” has the following lines-

‘If I give my heart to you, will you handle it with care,

Will you always treat me tenderly and in every way be fair,

If I give my heart to you, will you give me all your love,

When you promise all these things to me,

Then I will give my heart to you.’

Love did have her in a spin. In “Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered”, she sang-

‘I’m wild again, beguiled again, a simpering, whimpering child again,

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered, am I….

Lost my heart but what of it….

I”ll sing to him, each Spring to him,

And long for the day when I cling to him,

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered, am I.’

And then “You Do Something To Me”-

‘Something that simply mystifies me,

Tell me, why should it be, 

You have the power to hypnotize me,

For you do something to me,

That nobody else could do.’

In “Secret Love”, she wished to keep her love within her heart but her lover ‘became impatient to be free’-

‘So I told a friendly star, the way that dreamers often do,

Just how wonderful you are, and why I’m so in love with you….

At last my heart’s an open door,

And my secret love’s no secret any more’.

Just by telling it to a star!

One of the most romantic songs I have ever heard is her “Beautiful Music To Love By”. Switch on the video in which she features with Rock Hudson and waltz the night away with your loved one. In this song, she again goes for a heady spin:

‘There goes the room, round and round like a spinning top,

And my heart’s going dizzy, but don’t let it stop,

Oh, your lips are so thrilling to cling to.

I don’t care, if it’s right or it’s wrong,

This is beautiful music to love by.

Hold me tight, kiss me sweet, love me long.’

In keeping with her optimistic nature, she did a number of light numbers. One of them is “Guy Is A guy”-

‘I walked down the street like a good girl should,

He followed me down the street like I knew he would….

He asked me for a good night kiss,

I said it’s still good day,

I would have told him more instead,

His lips got in my way….

So I walked down the aisle like a good girl should,

He followed me down the aisle like I knew he would,

Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be….’

Then there is “Enjoy Yourself” where she exhorts us to do that before it’s too late-

‘Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think,

Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink,

The years go by, as quickly as a wink, 

Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.’

Her laissez faire attitude stood out in the number which promptly won everyone’s heart. It was “Que Sera Sera” which she sings while putting her son to bed in the Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Man Who Knew Too Much”. I am sure many mothers still sing it to their children and the lyrics are known to most us. But I loved it when Vinnie Mama used to sing his Hindi translation-

‘Jab mein ek chhoti ladki thi, maine Amma se poocha mera kya hoga,

Kya mein khubsurat banoogi, amir banoogi, Amma ne yeh bola,

Que sera sera, jo hona hai so hoga,

Aage ki kuchh pata nahin hai,

Jo hoga so hoga, Que sera sera.’

To end, let’s go back to her first hit, “Sentimental journey”-

‘Gonna take a sentimental journey….

To renew old memories, 

Gonna take a sentimental journey,

Sentimental journey home.’

And I am headed for Jaipur!

P.S. I don’t follow present day pop music much. But by chance, I discovered someone who appealed to me as a modern Doris Day. She is the Belgian dinger Dana Winner. Her “One Moment In Time” is brilliant-

‘Give me one moment in time, when I’m racing with destiny,

Then in that one moment of time,

I will feel, I will feel eternity’.

There is more where that comes from!

SONGS THAT MELT MY HEART

 

I don’t know if I could ever have qualified to be amongst “Hearts (Made) Of Stone” as the Fontaine Sisters sang in my youthful days. But I know that with age, my heart seems to be transforming into butter with an ever decreasing melting point which reaches its lowest with music and certain songs. The songs don’t need to be sad nor are my tears that of sorrow. It is just that some emotional chord gets touched by some tunes, lyrics and nostalgia.

Lately, the song which has been stirring my emotions is Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong’s “We Have All The Time In The World”. I have always loved that song but its revival with the movie “No Time To Die” has brought it back in my thoughts. It was very touching to learn how its composer John Barry specially sought the ailing Satchmo to record virtually the latter’s last song. Satchmo was not even able to play the trumpet which was typical of most of his songs and the instrument was played by a member of the orchestra. The lyrics of the song are great but it is the trumpet piece ending the song which keeps blowing my mind.

Another John Barry composition that I find extremely touching is “You Only Live Twice”. Its opening bars leading to Nancy Sinatra’s superb vocal rendition make it irresistible. Its intriguing lyrics say, “You only live twice…. one life for yourself and one for your dreams. You drift through the years and life seems tame, till one dream appears and love is its name.” Love may be dangerous but if you think of the danger, the dream will be gone and you will continue to live only one tame life!

Two Christmas songs sung by ‘the old groaner’ Bing Crosby have always overwhelmed me. ‘White Christmas’ is pure nostalgia and ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’ movingly emotional. These songs transport me back to my school days and I can picture old Father Mackessack, my class teacher when I first joined St. Xavier's Jaipur, teaching us these songs.

Another old song that never fails to choke my throat is “If I Loved You” from the musical “Carousel”. Two lovers, Julie and Billy, ponder over what life would be like if they were in love but are hesitant to admit the attraction they feel for each other. “If I loved you, ….Words wouldn’t come in an easy way, round in circles I’d go….Soon you’d leave me, never never to know, how I loved you, if I loved you”.

In early 60s came the movie “Lovers Must Learn” with “Al Di La” hypnotisingly sung by Emilio Pericoli in a restaurant in which Troy Donahue and Susanne Pleshette walk in. I would like to think that it was this song that made them fall in love in real life and get married. I find the song touchingly romantic.

One of my personal favourites is “Feelings” originally sung by the Brazilian singer Morris Albert in 1974 and further popularized by Shirley Bassey and a host of top artistes from Frank Sinatra to Julio Iglesias. Despite its popularity, its lyrics have been criticized by many as insignificant. I, however, find them moving, aided by the way the song is sung. Its theme is the singer’s inability in ‘trying to forget my feelings of love’ followed by ‘feelings like I’ve never lost you, and feelings like I’ve never have you again in my arms’.

Most people are moved by the song “Memory” from the musical “Cats”. The original was by Elaine Paige but a very popular version is by Barbara Streisand. The famous Andrew Lloyd Webber composed the music while its hugely emotional lyrics by Trevor Nunn were based on poems of TS Eliot. I often listen to it driving from Delhi to Jaipur making efforts to keep composed with Akhila watching silently as she is quite used to this by now and has stopped inquiring if something is wrong! Let me recap a few lines:

“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.

Daylight, I must wait for the sunrise

I must think of a new life....

When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory too

And a new day will begin....

If you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is,

Look, a new day has begun."

Like I said in an earlier post, most songs by ABBA tug at the heartstrings because of their emotional lyrics. Here, I will confine myself to two which are touching for the resolve, hope and urge to look at the brighter side of life. The first one is “Chiquitita” which is about supporting a friend and exhorting her to get over her heartache. The lyrics would melt the hardest of hearts-

‘Chiquitita…. You’re enchained by your own sorrow’

In your eyes there is no hope for tomorrow….

I’m a shoulder to cry on, your best friend , I’m the one you must rely on….

Heartaches come and they go and the scars they are leaving….

But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you,

Try once more like you did before, sing a new song, Chiquitita.’ 

In the second song, “I Have A Dream”, the singer is determined to getting over life’s difficulties and reach the desired destination at the right time:

‘I have a dream, a fantasy,

To help me through reality,

And my destination, makes it worth the while,

Pushing through the darkness, yet another mile,

I believe in angels, something good in every thing I see….

I believe in angels, when I know the time is right for me,

I’ll cross the stream, I have a dream.’

In addition to the vocals, what stimulates the tear ducts is the brilliant instrumentation at the beginning of “I Have A Dream” and towards the end of both songs.

We were in Singapore when the movie “Top Gun” was released in 1986. Its theme song was “Take My Breath Away”. The sweet melody is particularly touching when the characters superbly played by Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis have a misunderstanding and make up soon after. Whenever I hear the song, it takes me back to the wonderful years we spent in Singapore watching Ruchir and Shumita grow up from kids to their teens.

Then there is the Demis Roussos classic “Goodbye My Love Goodbye”. Beautifully sung in his romantic, sentimental style, its lyrics are hugely emotional:

“Goodbye my love goodbye, Goodbye and au revoir,

As long as you remember me I’ll never be too far.

Goodbye my love goodbye, I always will be true,

So hold me in your dreams ‘til I come back to you.”

There are more such songs but for now, my hanky is wet- I’ll go get a towel!

 

P.S. Surfing through YouTube on the TV, I chanced upon Dana Winner- ‘One Moment In Time’ performed live. The audience consisted of very young people and everyone was in tears entranced by the song. I found it reassuring- it is not only old geezers like me but the youth too who get emotionally affected by songs!