KHOYA CHOOHA, PAYA PAHAR

A popular saying in Hindi goes, "Khoda pahar, nikla chooha"- make the huge effort of digging a whole mountain only to find something totally insignificant, a rat! This story is a reverse of that.

In January 1985, when I was commanding the frigate Trishul, the annual 'Pulling Regatta' took place. This is a prestigious event in which all ships of the Fleet vie with each other to win the 'Cock' trophy which, as the name implies, is in the shape of a lifesize rooster. The competition consists of a number of races in a 27 foot boat called 'whaler', which is rowed (pulled) by different teams of a ship such as Seamen, Technical Sailors, Senior Sailors, Officers, and Best Whaler. The overall winning ship is awarded the Cock, proudly hoists it on the main mast and is named 'Cock Ship of the Fleet', signifying excellent team work, exemplary camaraderie and high morale among all on board. It is also considered as a sign of the ship's Captain's leadership qualities and popularity. For example, Admiral Ronnie Pereira's ships always won the Cock during his various commands. Naval folks are familiar with what happened when he was commanding the cruiser Delhi. In the second last race, his team put in a super effort and won by a big margin only to discover that the ship's 'best whaler' crew had mistakenly taken part in the race meant for 'senior sailors'. They were promptly disqualified and completely exhausted for the next race which was actually theirs- 'best whaler'. So Ronnie jumped into the boat himself and cajoled the crew to participate in the race inspiring them to win it. Delhi won the Cock despite getting no points in the race before.

Competing against bigger ships like Vikrant and Mysore and newer destroyers and frigates, old Trishul which had joined the Western Fleet after a long docking period for its 'modernisation', was nowhere in anyone's reckoning for winning the Cock. Quietly working their way up, her boats did well and to everyone's surprise, ended as runner-up after giving a close run to Taragiri, the eventual winner. Admiral Russi Ghandhi, then Chairman, Shipping Corporation of India, who was the Chief Guest, announced a free trip to Singapore on M.V. Chidambaram for the the Captain of Taragiri and his wife. Captain NK Sawhney, Managing Director, Mazagaon Docks, with whom I had developed a good equation while we were jointly getting the ship ready in the docks, was also watching the event. He came up to me and said how happy he was that Trishul had done so well and bowled me over by declaring free tickets for me and my wife on Chidambaram to Singapore.

This was an unexpected surprise and Akhila, who was also present there, and I were thrilled. We came home and announced it to our children with Akhila insisting that we would pay for Ruchir and Shumita who must accompany us.

None of us had passports so, to set the ball rolling, we applied for them. We then initiated inquiries about Chidambaram's sailing schedule to match the dates with our cruise which would have to be in the School summer vacations.

We were waiting eagerly for things to progress when we got the shocking news that a fire had broken out on Chidambaram and the ship was rendered out of commission. This was a huge disappointment to all of us but we were helpless and resigned to our fate. My thoughts went back to the palmist who in my childhood had predicted no foreign visits for me and wondered whether he had some substance in his predictions.

Shortly after, I received a letter from Naval Headquarters appointing me as Defence Adviser, High Commission of India, Singapore. That meant three years in Singapore for the family.

Lost a rat, found a mountain!

THREE FREE TRIPS ABROAD IN THREE YEARS - AN AMAZING HAT-TRICK

It all began in the summer of 1995. Shumita, an avid Channel V watcher at that time, came across a competition which asked viewers the question, “Who is Batman’s sidekick?” The prize was two Qantas tickets to Brisbane and an all expenses paid trip, which included a three-day hotel stay on Gold Coast, and visits to various amusement parks, including the Warner Brothers Studio that had produced the movie “Batman Forever”. 

The answer was a no-brainer, even for Shumita who doesn’t much follow the superhero movies. So she wrote ‘Robin’ on two postcards, one in her own name and the other in Ruchir’s, and posted them to the required address. She then forgot all about it. 

A few weeks later, the home phone rang – all landline those days. Shumita picked it up to hear a foreign female voice at the other end asking for Ruchir. Those days, Ruchir used to write a Forex Watch column for The Economic Times for which he often spoke to foreign economists and correspondents. Shumita presumed the caller was one of them and gave the lady Ruchir’s office number. Before hanging up, Shumita casually inquired what the call was about and was told it was about a competition Ruchir had won. 

Shumita kept the phone down without asking any further questions. It took about 60 seconds for her mind to register that the competition must have been the one she had entered. She first got overexcited, but that emotion was soon overcome by panic as she hadn’t told Ruchir anything about it! She frantically tried to call Ruchir to alert him to the fact that he would get this strange call, and that he shouldn’t tell the caller he knows nothing about it. However, his personal line was busy. She got through on the common line, but was told that he was on another call. A few minutes later, Ruchir called back and Shumita asked him: “Did you win?” The answer was “Yes”. Ruchir had tactfully handled the call from Channel V and a month later, the brother-sister duo were off to Australia for the first time on a holiday by themselves.

They were picked up at Brisbane airport by a chauffeur driven luxury car and taken to a 5-star hotel where the stars of ‘Batman Forever’, including Val Kilmer and Nicole Kidman, had stayed. A British woman, who had made the initial calls to Shumita and Ruchir, met them at the hotel and was with them throughout along with the other winners - a girl from Hong Kong and her friend. They were told that there were about 20,000 correct entries out of which two were picked up in a lot. That revived our faith in the lottery system!

A stretch limo was used for the five of them to move around. A highlight of the trip was a drive in the Batmobile used in the movie. But only Ruchir and the other winner could drive it; Shumita who was responsible for the trip was politely asked not to even touch it.

STRIKE ONE!

In the beginning of 1996, as a frequent visitor to the British Council Library, I chanced upon a competition sponsored by British Airways. It invited entrants to write a short poem on what they would like to do on a visit to London. I penned down something and then, in a moment of inspiration, wrote four more and posted the lot – one each for Mummy, Akhila, Ruchir, Shumita and self. And that was that.

Time passed by and one day, a thick yellow envelope arrived at our Som Vihar flat from the British Council. At that time, Akhila was doing some translation work for them, and dismissed the envelope as more work coming her way. Shumita, with plenty of time at her disposal during college those days, decided to open it. She could hardly believe what she was holding in her hands! The letter announced Akhila’s name as the winner of a return ticket to London, along with a 5-day stay in a studio apartment in Hyde Park, London, and two tickets for three days to watch an India vs England test match at Lord’s. 

We felt someone should accompany Akhila and decided on Shumita as she was the only one from the family who had not been to London until then.

A few days after Akhila’s letter was received, another one arrived at our doorstep. This time in my name, declaring me as the winner of a consolation prize: 6 coasters of London landmarks! 

So I was confined to looking at those images while mother and daughter had a gala time staying in the centre of the city in a beautiful apartment, exploring London and visiting Lord’s whenever they felt like it. It so happened that a shipmate of mine, Cdr Randhawa, was at that time Secretary Services Sports Control Board. He got in touch with the manager of the Indian team, Sandeep Patil, who ensured the two ladies were well looked after at Lord’s.

STRIKE TWO!!

About a year and a half later, I read in The Economic Times about a competition in partnership with Delta Airlines where they called for a 10-word caption to complete the phrase: “I like The Economic Times and Delta Airlines because…” The promised prize was an Executive Class return ticket to New York. 

A line flashed in my head: “ET provides me with hottest tips and Delta, coolest trips”. I wrote it down and sent in my entry. Some weeks later, I was contacted by ET and informed that I had won the prize. We hadn’t been to the USA and had not even considered to ever visit it. This was a Godsend and Akhila and I made the trip - win one, go two!

STRIKE THREE!!!

On return, both of us felt that we had now seen the world and our travels were complete. Little did we know that Ruchir, and for some years Shumita, would move to USA and this would be the first of many more trips.

PS1: After the Australia trip, Shumita entered another competition in The Times of India for which the prize was two free tickets to a movie at Priya Cinema and a pair of Pepe Jeans. When she saw her name in the paper, she came bounding out of her room, screaming “In won, I won!” Ruchir asked her with much excitement what was it that she had won. When she said, 2 movie tickets and a pair of jeans, he exasperatedly sighed and said “Big deal!” In contrast to free holidays overseas, it seemed an insignificant prize. 

PS2: We stopped entering competitions after that, giving chances for others to win! My little grandson, Raghav, though, upon hearing these stories, picks up the newspaper regularly now, rifling through for any competitions to enter. 

THE EYES HAVE IT

When you first meet a person, you look at his/her face and then the eyes lock. An impression is created immediately and more often than not, it is strengthened as you get to know the person further. 'Seeing is believing', but the mystery is that though what we see is the same, our eyes interpret it differently. Someone said, "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." Very few people see 'eye to eye' unless the trust is so much that one can follow someone with 'eyes wide shut'. 'Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder’ and what may be 'love at first sight' for one, for most it is just another sight.

Traditionally and in folk lore, eyes have been associated with character. Brown eyes are supposed to be trustworthy, blue-sentimentality, and, green-creativity and mysteriousness. Metaphorically, the colour of eyes is expressive of emotion: red eyes of rage and anger, blue-love and romance, green-jealousy, and black-deceit. There is also the 'evil eye' which could be cast upon with intense jealousy on someone very successful or hugely attractive. And if you wink at a pretty girl, you could land up with a 'black' and 'blue' eye!

Eyes are a popular subject for songs. Titles of most immediately convey what the songs are about. So Frank Sinatra crooned for his loved one, “I only have eyes for you”, Frank Valli was besotted with love in “Can’t take my eyes of you” and the song in the film “Dirty Dancing” had “Hungry eyes” expressing desire.  Other songs are “Sexy eyes”, “Bright eyes”, “Dark eyes” and Bruce Springsteen's "Hey blue eyes". An old favourite of mine is "Beautiful brown eyes" by Rosemary Clooney in which she expresses her love for brown eyes forsaking blue ones.

Al Martino brought in nationality in “Blue Spanish eyes” while the old traditional song gets the heart stolen in “When Irish eyes are smiling”. Some songs have a deeper meaning like The Platters' "Smoke gets in your eyes" where the singer says that when love ends, it feels like smoke gets in your eyes. Perry Como was at his best in the early 50s in the chart topper "Don't let the stars get in your eyes" warning the loved one that in his absence, she should not be naive and let the moon break her heart but keep it for him when he returns. 

Eyes are popular in Hindi songs too. Way back  KL Saigal complained of agony inflicted by “Do naina matware” while more recently, the Bachchans went to town with “Kajra re, kajra re, kajra re torey naina”. Abida Parveen hypnotised us with her inimitable Sufi song “Chhaap tilak sab chheeni, mohse naina milaike” meaning, 'you have taken away my looks, my identity, by engaging eyes with me.' And there is "Chashme baddoor", the '61 hit of Mohd. Rafi that aims to ward off the evil eye from the lover.

Contrary to what Rosemary Clooney sang, there is a story I heard sometime back. On a late night drinking binge at a stag party, an animated discussion was raging about what the colours of eyes signify. Someone said that brown-eyed women are very unfaithful. One man realizing that he did not know the colour of his wife’s eyes rushed home to check. Finding her sleeping in her skimpy nightie in the darkened bedroom, he pulled out a torch and shone it in her eye. “By God, it's brown,” he yelled. A thoroughly distressed and disshelved person crawled out half-clothed from under the bed mumbling, “How did you know I was here?”

HARRY BELAFONTE - KING OF CALYPSO

 

Harry Belafonte, singer, actor and Civil Rights activist, passed away earlier this week after reaching 96 on 1 March. A legend in his lifetime, he was given the title ‘King of Calypso’ back in mid-50s and also regarded as a ‘folk hero’.

Of Jamaican-American descent, he was born and brought up in Harlem, New York City. In the early ‘50s’, he found his mojo in singing songs with Caribbean flavour and soon became famous and enormously popular. I was in the NDA when many of us got hooked on to his songs and in the ‘50s and ‘60s, no party would be complete without all of us singing his top hits like ‘Banana Boat Song (Day-O) and ‘Jamaican Farewell’.

A versatile artiste, Belafonte was one of very few performers who have won Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy awards including Lifetime Achievement from the last named. He was also inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

His friend, Sidney Poitier, and he were the pioneer successful black actors in Hollywood film industry. While he acted in many films, the one I liked the most was one of his earliest, ‘Island in the Sun’, in which he sings the title song with deep emotion with touching lines like ‘Oh, Island in the Sun, willed to me by my father’s hands, all my days I will sing in praise of your forest, waters and shining sands.’

First and foremost, Harry Belafonte was a singer who gave a huge popular dimension to calypso music. Although the first documented recording of Calypso dates back to 1912 and I fondly remember the Andrews Sisters catchy “Rum and Coca-Cola” in early ‘50s, it was Belafonte who topped the charts with his album, “Calypso”, which in 1954 became the first ever to cross a million sales. That album included the number “Banana Boat Song” which was an adaptation of a Jamaican folk song. The song is also known as 'Day-O', a word repeated many times over and its distinguishing feature. It became one of Belafonte’s signature songs. Some lines-

"Work all night on a drink of rum

(Daylight come and me wan' go home)

Stack banana 'til the morning come

(Daylight come and me wan' go home)

Come mister tally man, tally me banana

(Daylight come and me wan' go home)....

Lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch

(Daylight come and me wan' go home)....

Day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day-o

(Daylight come and me wan' go home)"

Hits followed one after the other. There was “Coconut Woman” which has the singer extolling the goodness of coconut water. In “Come Back Liza” the singer laments the separation from his loved one wanting her to come back and ‘wipe the tear from me eye’. “Brown Skin Girl” was a protest song against exploitation of the black Caribbean woman by the American where the latter sails away leaving the woman literally holding the baby-

“Brown skin girl, stay home and mind baby,

Brown skin girl, stay home and mind baby,

I’m gonna sail in a sailing boat’

And if I don’t come back, stay home and mind baby.”

Belafonte had a great sense of humour and a number of songs are a testimony to this. In “Man Piaba” he began by dedicating the song ‘to all the parents whose children have reached the age of curiosity.’ Then he went on-

“When I was a lad of three-foot-three, certain questions occurred to me

So I asked my father quite seriously to tell me the story ‘bout the bird and bee,

He stammered and he stuttered pathetically, and this is what he said to me,

He said, ‘The woman piaba and the man piaba,

And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass,

The lily root, gully root, belly root, ugh, 

And the famous grandy scratch-scratch.

It was clear as mud but it covered the ground, 

And the confusion made the brain go ‘round.”

So to further explore, he goes to Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud who add to his confusion with their technical theories. So he finally concludes,

Well, I travelled far and I travelled wide,

And I don’t even have meself a bride,

All the great men upon this earth,

Have confused me since my birth.”

In “Man Smarter Woman Smarter”, he plainly avers that ‘the people they say that the man are leading the woman astray. But I say, that the woman of today, smarter than the man in every way…. You meet a girl at a pretty dance, thinkin’ that you would stand a chance. Take her home thinkin’ she’s alone, open the door, you find her husband home.’

One of the funniest is “Mama Look A Boo Boo”. In it he sings,

"I wonder why nobody don’t like me

Or is it the fact that I'm ugly?....

My children….Mama, look a boo boo they shout,

Their mother tell them shut up your mout’

That is your daddy, oh, no,

My daddy can’t be ugly so.

Shut your mout’, go away,

Mama look a boo boo dey."

A classic children’s song,“There’s A Hole In The Bucket”, was a duet he sang with Odetta. It begins with a simple request from ‘Liza’ to ‘dear Henry’ to go fetch some water. Henry replies, “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole.” Liza asks Henry to fix it and there’s a long exchange between the two with Henry asking with what he should fix it and Liza giving him directions. For each direction, Henry states something else is required. Liza is progressively losing her cool and eventually they come full circle requiring water again. Henry asks with what he should fetch the water and Liza says exasperatingly, ‘With a bucket, DEAR HENRY, DEAR HENRY, WITH A BUCKET, DEAR HENRY, A BUCKET' only for Henry to reply, 'There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole, THERE’S A HOLE!”

In April 1959, Belafonte performed live in Carnegie Hall. His rendition of “Matilda” there is outstanding and unmatched. He showed what a splendid performer he was when he had the audience rollicking and spellbound exhorting them to sing just one simple line “Matilda, Matilda, Matilda, she take me money and run Venezuela” for about 12 minutes in many different ways – ‘Once again now…Sing a little louder…Sing a little softer…Goin’‘round the corner…Sing out the chorus…Everybody’ and so on. Listening to the recording is mesmerizing; exceptionally lucky were the ones who attended the show in person.

On a serious note, in 1984 with most of Africa reeling from a famine, Harry Belafonte thought of making a single disc for raising a relief fund. Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie were approached to write the song and the world’s top singers invited to participate. Thus was born “We Are The World”, a historic song sung by Jackson, Richie, Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner and many more. The song won 4 Grammys, numerous other awards the world over and raised $63 million ($156m in today’s value) for the fund. At 20 million sales, it is the 8th bestselling single of all time.

I have saved for the last another of his signature songs, “Jamaican Farewell”. A few glasses of rum and one would break into the delightful number. Some lyrics have to be recalled:-

"Down the way where the nights are gay,

And the sun shines daily on the mountaintop,

I took a trip on a sailing ship

And when I reached Jamaica I made a stop….

Down at the market you can hear

Ladies cry out while on their heads they bear,

Ackee, rice, saltfish are nice

And the rum is fine any time of the year

But I'm sad to say, I'm on my way,

Won't be back for many a day

My heart is down my head is turning around

I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town.'

Sad to say, Harry Belafonte won't be back on any day.

SUGAR IS SWEET....BUT NOT AS SWEET AS...

 

Say what you will, one thing is for sure: Sugar is Sweet. And I love all things sweet.

Was I born with a sweet tooth or did I develop it in childhood? Growing up in grandpas’ house, no meal was complete without a laddoo, peda or barfi to round up with. On special occasions, it would be a Rasgulla or Kulfi in summer and Gajar Ka Halwa, Rewadi and Ghazak in winter. Festivals were marked by their own sweets; Ghevar with sugar coating on top on Gangaur, Gujia or ‘Prakiri’, as we call it at home, on Holi, Mataji’s signature ‘Maun Thaal’, a sweet made from ‘besan’ exquisitely flavoured with saffron and camphor, on Diwali, and so on. Pitaji would send someone to get hot Jalebis on holidays and on our Alwar trips, there was a Halwai just outside my granduncle’s house to readily provide Imartis and the famous Alwar Milk Cake. 

Over to NDA and the ‘sweet’ journey continued with puddings and desserts like Caramel Custard and Tipsy. Near our squadron, there was a barber shop which we had to visit at least once a week if not twice. Next to it, temptingly located, there was a bakery with cakes and pastries and the popular Cream Roll with dollops of the sweet gooeystuff inside. Haircut was invariably followed by overindulgence in the bakery.

Navy too provided sweets after meals and the practice continues at home. 

Till the ‘60s, I didn’t hear a bad word about sugar. It was in great demand and rationed in many places during and after WW II. People lovingly named their daughters ‘Cheeni’. As a kid, I recall a gathering of women of our caste in which someone complained, “Cheeni ‘raand’ to millay hi na hai”. The cuss word is hard to translate, so suffice it to say that what was said was, ‘Wicked sugar is just not available’. The throng included a woman named ‘Cheeni’ who created a ruckus before storming out in protest as she felt that she was being deliberately abused and insulted.

Numerous hit songs compared the sweetness of sugar with that of the singer’s loved one and vice versa. Sugar was a pure sweetheart, so what malformed it into a wicked vamp?  

The main accusation against it is that of diabetes. However, it is not sugar that causes the disease but the failure of pancreas to produce enough insulin because of a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Obesity that could lead to diabetes is also not directly due to sugar but excess of it combined with an inactive lifestyle and unhealthy diet. 

The sugar that we ingest includes natural sugar in fruits and vegetables and is full of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. It is not only harmless but an essential part of our diet. It is the ‘added’ sugar such as the ‘white’ refined table sugar and that in soft drinks, fruit juices, sauces, sweets and desserts, etc. This is only for taste and has no health benefits. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends limiting a person’s daily consumption of added sugar to 6 teaspoons. This much added sugar is unlikely to cause any harm and can be consumed safely by a normal, healthy and active person. Even for diabetics, upto two teaspoons a day is permissible.

The anti-sugar campaign was started by the Americans who are the world’s biggest per capita consumers of added sugar at over 25 teaspoons per day, more than four times the maximum recommended by WHO. After giving sugar a bad name but to satisfy their excessive craving, they started researching for artificial sweeteners which over time have proved to be more harmful than added sugar.

So what is the answer? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind- the answer is ‘moderation’. Enjoy the sweetness of sugar but exercise self-control.

And enjoy some songs I love of sugar and sweethearts. Who better to begin with than a living legend, Tony Bennett, now 96, who brought out his second album with Lady Gaga in 2021, breaking the Guinness World Record for the oldest person to release an album of new material at the age of 95 years and 60 days. In 1954, he sang “Shoo-gah (My Pretty Shoo-Gah)” which was a super hit and I love it no end. He even expressed his happiness at sugar making his loved one fat so that he had more of her! Listen to the wonderful lyrics-

“Shoo-Gah, my pretty sugar,

 Every pound that makes you round I idolize….

Shoo-Gah girl, Shoo-Gah girl, it’s a sin, it’s a sin,

My heart breaks when you take Saccharin, Saccharin,

Sugar lump, makes you plump, what of that, what of that,

There’s much more to adore when you’re fat….

Shoo-Gah, my pretty Shoo-Gah,

Put the sugar back and love back in my eyes.”

15 years later, a Rock Band took the name “Archies” from the still loved comic character and sang its best hit, “Sugar, Sugar.” Some sweet words-

“Honey, oh sugar, sugar,

You are my candy girl, and you got me wanting you….

Pour a little sugar on it, honey,

Pour a little sugar on it, baby,

I’m gonna make your life so sweet….”

Kitty Wells in 1959 and The McGuire Sisters thirty years later, expressed the desire to have their ‘sugar’ throughout the day-

“Sugar in the mornin’, sugar in the evenin’, sugar at suppertime,

Be my little sugar, and love me all the time….

Now sugartime (sugartime)

Is anytime that you’re near (that you’re near)….

Just be my honeycomb (honeycomb, honeycomb)

And live in a heaven of love….”

A nursery rhyme first published in 1784 has been used for a hit song by various artistes and I love the version by Jim Reeves. In this song, sugar is sweet, but not as much as ‘my love’-

“Roses are red, my love,

Violets are blue,

Sugar is sweet, my love

But not as sweet as you.”

Finally, Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins found a unique use for sugar for little kids-

“A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, 

The medicine go down-wown, 

The medicine go down,

Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,

In a most delightful way.”

A spoonful, yes, not 25.

RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM

I came across this quote yesterday attributed to Omar Khayyam, “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”

Around 70 years ago, I saw a movie, “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman.” The movie is an all-time great and is based on the legend of a Dutch sailor who has been cursed by the Devil to sail the seas for eternity until he meets a woman willing to die for him. After years of sailing, he meets Pandora who falls for him. Ava Gardner as Pandora and James Mason as the Flying Dutchman are outstanding in their roles in this unforgettable movie.

The reason I bring this up is that the movie begins with a flash of probably the most popular quote from ‘Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam”:

“The Moving Finger writes: and, having writ, 

Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit,

Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,

Nor all thy tears, wash out a word of it.”

The lines fascinated me and I procured the book and read it again and again. It is by far the best set of poems I have come across and has been lodged in my mind ever since. 

I am sure most of us are aware of the Rubaiyat, have read it and quote from it. To refresh briefly, Omar Khayyam was born in Khorassan, Persia, and lived in late 11th and early 12th century. Khayyam means ‘tentmaker’ which might have been his family’s vocation. He himself was an astronomer-mathematician philosopher financed by the Sultan to pursue his scientific and literary interests. His poetic profile only emerged many years after his death. In fact, some historians doubt the authenticity of many of the poems attributed to him.

The poems gained global recognition in late 19th century after a Britisher, Edward Fitzgerald, received some manuscripts from a friend and put the poems together titling them  “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.” Rubaiyat is Persian for ‘quatrain’ or four-line stanzas which is the format of Khayyam’s poems. Fitzgerald’s first edition was published in 1859 and did not gain much traction for a few years but became hugely popular thereafter. Fitzgerald followed up with four more editions and over the years, numerous other translators brought out their own versions in various languages but Fitzgerald’s first edition remains the most popular one to this day. In fact, many scholars consider it to be Fitzgerald’s original poetry loosely based on Khayyam’s quatrains. Indeed, Fitzgerald himself admits that he has taken a lot of liberty in his translation.

The mystery about Khayyam abounds. Scholars in the Fitzgerald mould consider Khayyam to be a hedonist and an atheist interested in earthly pleasures such as drinking wine, and assess the Rubaiyat to be simply a love poem. The opposing school of thought disagrees and regards Khayyam to be a deeply religious, Sufi mystic. They interpret a spiritual meaning in his lines and consider that he was, in fact, expressing devotion to his god in the guise of wine. This claim is strengthened by the fact that, in his time, he was respected as a sage.

To say the least, Fitzgerald’s work is superb poetry and enormously alluring. It makes for easy reading and has a musical cadence to it.

I am no scholar and simply enjoy the Rubaiyat without worrying too much about the two opposite schools of thought although I do feel that many of his lines cannot be explained unless they had a deeper meaning rather than purely literal. 

Let me now quote the quatrains that I love.

The Rubaiyat begins with a spectacular depiction of dawn, the awakening of Man: 

“Awake! For morning in the bowl of night,

Has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight:

And lo, the hunter of the East,

Has caught the Sultan’s turret in a noose of light.”

“Dreaming when Dawn’s left hand was in the sky,

I heard a voice within the Tavern cry:

‘Awake, my little ones, and fill the cup,

Before Life’s Liquor in the Cup be dry’.”

If we take this literally, is a barman in the pub exhorting petty-minded humans to wake up and indulge in drinking liquor early in the morning? Or is the Tavern an inner sanctum and the ‘voice’ a deep desire to seek spiritual consciousness and divine joy in life?

This is followed by:

“And as the cock crew, those who stood before

The Tavern shouted-‘Open then the door,

You know how little while we have to stay,

And, once departed, may return no more.’ ”

A theme often reiterated in the Rubaiyat is the transient nature of human life and the futility of ego:

“Think, in this caravanserai,

Whose doorways are alternate Night and Day,

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp

Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.”

“The worldly hope men set their hearts upon,

Turns ashes-or it prospers, and anon,

Like snow upon desert’s dusty face,

Lighting a little hour or two, is gone.”

“Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise

To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies,

One thing is certain and the rest is Lies,

The Flower that once has blown, for ever dies.”

Many verses are devoted to the inevitability and irreversibility of Fate; invoking the sun and the moon, stars and planets won’t help. Let’s repeat the one used in “Pandora….”:

“The Moving Finger writes and, having writ,

Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit,

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”

“And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,

Whereunder crawling coop’t we live and die,

Lift not thy hands to it for help – for it

Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.”

So make the Present happy and be content. Past has already happened and Future is yet to come:

“Ah! Fill the Cup – what boots it to repeat

How Time is slipping underneath our Feet;

Unborn TOMORROW, and dead YESTERDAY,

Why fret about them if TODAY be sweet.”

“Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears

TODAY of past Regrets and future Fears –

TOMORROW? Why TOMORROW I may be 

Myself with YESTERDAY’s Sev’n THOUSAND YEARS.”

“Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,

Before we too into the Dust descend;

Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie,

Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and – sans End?”

So how do we find inner peace, comfort and happiness? -

“Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,

A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse – and Thou

Beside me in the Wilderness –

And Wilderness is Paradise enow.”

Paramhansa Yogananda, our own spiritual leader of the 20th century, has interpreted 'Bread' as the life-force, 'Wine' as God intoxication, 'Bough' as the spinal tree or centre of the nervous system concentrating on which brings great joy and inner peace, 'A Book of Verse' as inspirations emanating from the heart, 'Thou' as the Cosmic Beloved and 'Wilderness' as inner stillness leading to a state of Paradise.

Towards the end, Khayyam is wistful:

“Ah, Love! Could Thou and I with Fate conspire

To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire.

Would not we shatter it to bits – and then

Re-mould it nearer to the Heart’s Desire!”

TAMAM SHUD (It is done)

RAVI SHARMA....WHO?

Many years ago, there was a naval party in Vishakhapatnam to which a number of civilian dignitaries were invited. A colleague of mine went up to one of them and introduced himself thus, “Good evening, sir. I am …. son-in-law of….”  I recall smirking then at what I thought was a funny way to introduce oneself by throwing in a connection of someone well-known. Over the years, however, I realize that my colleague was right. When I introduce myself to strangers by just my name, their probable reaction is, “Ravi Sharma who? For all I care, you could be Chunni Lal or Ghasita Ram!”

As William Shakespeare famously wrote, “What’s in a name?” By itself, nothing. What matters is that either you are famous yourself or can boast of a connection to someone important so that your name could have some weight. Most of us fall in the latter category. I certainly do. 

My Nanaji was a respected High Court Judge known for his honesty and lucid and well-reasoned judgments. In my younger days, it helped if I told people that I was his grandson. My mother, starting as a long-serving headmistress of a popular girls’ high school in Jaipur and rising to become Director of Sanskrit Education, Rajasthan, had earned recognition all over the state and won many awards. I would proudly proclaim I was her son. Indeed, even today, long after she is gone, I can quote her name in Jaipur and go up a notch or two in people's eyes.

In the Navy, introductions were not necessary as one had to wear a name tally on one’s chest. In fact, one was known more by one’s appointment than by name. For instance, a Captain of a ship would be known by its name; so I was Katchall for some time followed by Trishul.

Nevertheless, I did have connections in the Service. Both my Mamas had joined the Indian Navy in its nascent stage. The number of officers was small and everyone knew everyone else. Long after I retired, I wrote a few ‘middles’ which were published and I received a letter from Admiral Russi Ghandhi saying that he had enjoyed reading them but asking who I was. I replied that I was Cmde Vinnie Sharma’s nephew and he wrote back that coming from that family, I must be an okay guy!

The same connection may not work well with all. Vinnie Mama and an officer  senior to him were together on the training staff at the Joint Services Wing, Clementown, Dehradun. The senior officer thought Vinnie Mama was too flamboyant and did not like him. The individual rose to the rank of Vice Admiral and became Chief of Personnel. Vinnie Mama specifically told me that he should never be told about our relationship. I wonder if the fact became known to him anyway and was one of the reasons for my initial non-selection for Staff College!

Now, though many years after retirement, I thought that in the Navy my name would be recognised. Recently, I asked a friend of mine who knows a serving Vice Admiral well, to request the latter for help in making some arrangements for my visit to Chennai. I quote from the message my friend wrote to the Vice Admiral, “A small request from Cmde RN Sharma, father of well known Economist Ruchir Sharma….” Obviously my name was not enough and the reference must have carried weight because the arrangements exceeded my expectations!

I suffer from no ego and if I am recognised more by my connections than by my name, so be it. There is one time though when I felt things had gone too far. As a bachelor, I had a pet dog named Lucky, a cute, creamish Pomeranian. As a pup, Lucky had fallen from a bed and fractured its right foreleg which gave it a peculiar, prancing gait. It was charming to watch Lucky as it approached you wagging its tail and looking at you with soulful eyes beseeching to be hugged and petted. It was so popular with my friends' kids that they called me not by my name but as “Lucky Uncle” which I thought was a bit much!

Amazingly, while writing this, a poem appeared on my computer screen, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” by Emily Dickinson. It is eminently suitable to be quoted in this context:

“I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Are you-Nobody-too?

Then there’s a pair of us!

Don’t tell! They’d advertise-you know!

How dreary-to be-Somebody!

How public-like a Frog-

To tell one’s name-the livelong June-

To an admiring Bog!”

P.S. Latest connection: A few weeks back, I have acquired an in-law relationship with the all-time great West Indian cricketer, Vivian Richards and Neena Gupta, the famous actress.