Our THREE Lifelines!

There are a few passions, which have remained with us over the years. Cricket and Bollywood obviously top the list. Film music is something which is so much a part of our daily lives – right from our bathrooms to bedrooms, we have a song for every situation. Television has evolved over the last few years. News channels are omnipresent. Reality shows rule the roost.

Going back, I remember some of the moments and incidents related to these passions of our lives.

Cricket:
During or tenure at BIT, we witnessed one World Cup (1996). I vividly remember the Sri Lankan juggernaut trouncing every team that came in way to emerge the clear favourites. Jayasuriya was the man of the series without doubt. To see him still going strong proves that he wasn’t a fluke. He wasn’t just a Shahid Afridi who could just be a powerful hitter. He was a sheet anchor who played some out of the world strokes, specially in the first 15 overs.

I also remember Saeed Anwar’s epic 194 in the ODI at Chennai which still remains the highest individual score. Azhar was the captain for the major part of 90s. Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly’s debut at Lords is still fresh in my memory. How Dravid missed his 100 and Ganguly went on to score one. I presume Dhoni must still have been in his half pants while these greats where making a mark. Sehwag must be bludgeoning the local guys for sixes and fours waiting for his arrival a decade later. And Ishant Sharma was still wetting his pants. Gawd! Its has been over a decade and half of the times I am talking about.

You got to pinch yourself to see that Sachin is still around. Its been 20 looong years! That proves his greatness.

Bollywood:
The movies which stand out in my memory – HAHK, DDLJ, Rangeela, Karan Arjun, Yes Boss, Main Khiladi Tu Anadi, Agnisakshi, Insaaniyat, Koylaa, Krantiveer, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Andaaz Apna Apna, Yeh Dillagi, Khuddar, Vijaypath, Suhaag, Humse Hai Muqabla, Bombay, English Babu Desi Mem, Raja Hindustani, Khamoshi – The musical….

There were no Internet downloads, no VCDs, no cable TV showing latest releases. There were just cinema halls – the dingy and occasionally cozy dark rooms where we saw these sometimes wonderful and sometimes trashy movies. But each of the movies we saw was an experience – not just because of those 3 hours but the way we planned them out. Ah! That would need another blog to talk about our modus operandi!

Music:
This is again a topic that would need an entire blog devoted to it. When we entered BIT, songs of ‘Darr’ and ‘Baazigar’ were a rage. SRK had just made a splash and was ruling the hearts. Later, ‘Tujhe dekha to ye jaana sanam’ from DDLJ and ‘Didi tera dewar deewana’ from HAHK blared from the corridors of every hostel until we got fed up. Owning a music system in one’s room was considered a status symbol. Mind you not everyone had it and those who had, were very much in demand. I learnt to sleep without getting deterred even if someone was playing with the decibels in that adjacent room during my stay at BIT. I bet that now even if you play ‘dhol’ ‘nagada’ throughout the night in my neighbourhood, I can still manage a nap. Thanks my hostel mates ! You increased my tolerance levels!

On a serious note, music was our lifeline and I believe it is something which has traversed a wide spectrum of development in technology from walkmans to iPods but at the core remains something which one carries with himself/herself everywhere as songs are not just past times, they are a part of our daily lives. They are something which have consoled a broken heart, rekindled a lazy afternoon and made a whole night of festivities memorable.

(To be continued..)