RIP, Dev Anand

“Jiya O, Jiya O Jiya kuch bol do…”

But the Peter Pan of the Hindi film Industry will not say anything again.

The man who never grew up has now moved on to the Great Beyond, leaving us with memories of that fluffy hair, that unique walk (which taught me how one can convert a weakness into one’s biggest strength), that oft-imitated drawl.

Dev Anand was already past his prime when I was a baby (he really belonged to my parents’ generation) but I grew up watching his movies on Doordarshan.

How can I forget the song that I have mentioned above, where Dev Anand was sitting on top of the car romancing Asha Parekh while someone was driving parallel to the train? A song sequence that probably was the inspiration for the other popular song “Mere Sapno ki Rani” from Aradhana?

Or the Jewel Thief playing the drum to Vyjayanthimala’s “Honthon Pe Aisi Baat”?

Or the music at the lighting of the cigarette from Hum Dono? (I bet his fans who are reading this are humming it right now)

“Dil Aaj Shaayar Hai, Gham Aaj Naghma Hai, Shab Yeh Ghazal Hai Sanam”

What a life he led! The movies (though my grandfather hated CID – the only movie he saw. He was an inspector, and thought he was going to see a movie on his department!), the songs, the romance…

That is another thing that I remember. His ill-fated romance with Suraiya. A young handsome hero and an established heroine fell in love and wanted to marry, but were thwarted by her family due to religious reasons. (Why her family did not stop her from acting in films for the same religious reasons is something I cannot fathom, but that’s beside the point).

A heart-broken Suraiya never married, and died a spinster in 2004! Dev Anand went on to marry another actress and had two children, but by newspaper reports, the couple was estranged for years.

“Hum Bekhudi Mein Tumko Pukaare Chale Gaye”

However, as much as I would prefer to remember only the suave debonair romantic, also comes to my mind images of possible narcissist who did not know when to quit!

Starting with possibly Des Pardes, he continued making films that no one saw, and possibly no one even remembers the names of, trying to play hero when he should have graduated to grandfather roles, casting people young enough to be his children as his contemporaries, or even his elders in the movies.

It hurt every time I saw him announcing a new film or on a poster; of the man making a caricature of himself!

“Kya Se Kya Ho Gaya, Bewafaa, Tere Pyar Mein”

He lived life on his own terms, and I daresay even died on his own terms. According to a newspaper report, he had expressed a desire to not be cremated in India, so that his fans remember him as the die-hard young romantic. His death in London was possibly a fulfilment of that wish.

Possibly it is therefore only fair that I remember the Dev Anand of the Black and White era, the young romantic, the hats, the walking stick, the drawl, the style of drooping his face and shaking his hands…

“Main Zindagi ka Saath Nibhaata Chala Gaya”

RIP, Devdutt Pishorimal Anand, while your die-hard fans say,

“Abhi na Jaao Chhodkar, Ke Dil Abhi Bharaa Nahi”

Muharram

Last night, the new moon heralded the beginning of the New Year of the Islamic or Hijri calendar.

Today is the 1st of Muharram, 1433.

A lot of laypersons associate Muharram with activities that would take place 10 days later. Known as Ashuraa’ (from Ashra’ or ten in Arabic), that is the 10th of Muharram, and marks the day of one of the most heart-rending events that occurred in Islam – the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Ashuraa’ is also associated with a number of events of earlier eras. According to various traditions, it was on the 10th of Muharram that Adam’s prayer was accepted, Noah landed his Ark on Mount Judi, Abraham was saved from the fire in which Nimrod had thrown him, Jonah emerged from the belly of the fish, Joseph was re-united with his parents, Moses led his people across the sea and the Pharaoh was destroyed; apart from many others.

Due to all the above, in the era when Prophet Muhammad (SAW) lived, Jews used to fast on the 10^th of Muharram. Even today, quite a few Muslims fast for the entire 10 days of Muharram, and many others on the 9th and 10th.

However, the events that took place on 10 Muharram 0061 (approx Oct 680 AD) overshadowed all other events.

Yazeed, a despot, tyrant and the total antitheses of Islam, proclaimed himself the Caliph or leader of Muslims. He asked Imam Hussain to pledge allegiance to him, which was naturally refused.

In a nutshell, this refusal of Imam Hussain to pledge allegiance to the despot Yazeed led to various events, leading to Imam Hussain leaving Madinah with his family and a few companions numbering 72 men, and about 51 women and children towards a place called Kufah (in modern-day Iraq). This small group of people was surrounded by an approximately 30,000-strong army sent by Yazeed at a place called Karbala, near the Euphrates river.

After denying water for 3 days (from 7 Muharram onwards) to this small group of people comprising women and children, including a six month-old infant, Yazeed’s mercenaries mercilessly killed the men and captured the women and children. From then onwards, the 10th of Muharram is marked as a day of mourning, remembrance and prayers by Muslims across the world.

Is it just a coincidence that the Islamic calendar begins with one sacrifice and ends with another? Or is it a message for us Muslims to be ready and willing to sacrifice their all for the will of Allah?

Eid-al-Adha

I had started writing this post last Sunday, to time it with Eid on Monday. But exigencies of work made me keep it aside without completing it as the relevant time had passed.

A chance remark by a colleague a couple of days after Eid about not liking this 'festival of slaughter' prompts me to complete it.

Let me narrate a story.

Many years ago, when Prophets walked on this earth, there lived a man called Ibraheem. He was in his 80s when he and his wife Hajara became parents for the first time.

The baby was still nursing when the Lord commanded Ibraheem to leave his wife and child – Ismail- among the barren plains of a desert and move on alone to spread His word. Placing his entire trust in the Lord, Ibraheem did as asked. He left them in an uncultivated valley which did not have even water for a vast distance. His wife, who was herself a staunch believer in the Lord, accepted her husband’s decision, since she believed that the Lord would take care of her and her child.

Within a couple of days, the food and water that she had was finished, and both mother and child started feeling hungry and thirsty. Hajara left her child in the valley and started walking briskly between two nearby mountains trying to look for someone from whom she could get some food or water. After she had moved between the two mountains seven times, she saw water coming near her child’s feet, where he had kept hitting the ground with his heel. (Another tradition also has it that an angel dug the earth near her child, and water came out).

Hajara had her fill of water and fed her child, but the water kept coming out, and vegetation grew around it. Soon, sensing water, birds started circling the area, caravans noticed them and came to the oasis, creating a settlement in the process.

A few years passed, and Ismail was old enough to walk and play. Then, Ibraheem had a dream, in which he was told to sacrifice that which is closest to his heart. He sacrificed forty camels each over two days, but the dream persisted. Ibraheem realised that the closest to his heart was his only child, Ismail!

He went to Ismail and told the little boy about his dream. The child replied, “O father, do as you are commanded, you will find me patient”.

Ibraheem took his wife and son and moved towards a nearby place where he planned to sacrifice his son. As he neared the place, the devil appeared to Ismail and whispered in his ear that his father was taking him to be killed. Ismail responded by throwing some stones at the devil.

A few steps later, the devil appeared to Hajara and tried to appeal to her maternal instincts. Hajara responded the same way that her son had.

Not one to give up, the devil then tried to talk Ibraheem out of sacrificing his son, but Ibraheem also hit the devil with a few stones.

Upon reaching the spot where Ibraheem had decided to offer his son as sacrifice, he made Ismail lay down and moved his knife on his son’s neck. However, even after trying to cut his son’s neck thrice, he could not succeed. Ibraheem threw away the knife in frustration at not being able to offer the ultimate sacrifice to his Lord. At this moment, he heard a divine voice saying, “Ibraheem, your Lord has accepted your sacrifice”, and a sheep was sent down from the heavens to be sacrificed in Ismail’s place.

Eid-ul-Adha - or Eid-ul-Zuha - (Adha - meaning sacrifice) is a commemoration and remembrance of this willingness to sacrifice by Prophet Ibraheem (AS) – also referred to as Abraham - and his family; possibly the greatest sacrifice made by man submitting to the will of his Lord.

The Lord loved the devotion of his servants, Ibraheem, Hajara and Ismail so much, that he decreed walking between the mountains of Safa and Marwa as well as stoning three pillars (Jamaraat) at Mina at the places where the devil had appeared to Ibraheem and his family an integral part of the Hajj, or pilgrimage, that is incumbent upon every Muslim who has the means to perform it. And Muslims across the world are ordered to sacrifice (not slaughter) an animal to remember the ultimate sacrifice made by their Prophet, and as an indicator that they would be ready to make whatever sacrifice required for the pleasure of their Lord.

May Allah grant us all the patience and understanding to submit to His will, so that all our words and actions in future are for the pleasure of Him, and Him alone. Aameen.

Happy Diwali

As I write this, we are in the middle of celebrating the biggest festival of India – Diwali, the festival of sound.

It is a really festive season for us between September and November. In the first week of October, we celebrated Dussehra, symbolising the victory of sound over silence. Before that, in September, we had Ganesh Chaturthi, where we welcomed noise to our houses and societies for 10 days.

Seriously, what is this?

Festivals have lost their original meanings and have become a means of out-shouting one another. Collection of donations is no less than extortion. No festival is complete without loudspeakers blaring at record decibel levels, and mindless beating of drums and other assorted objects in the guise of music.

Had he known what it would lead to, I am sure Lokmanya Tilak would not have started the concept of community Ganesh pandals. Because what started off as a means to mobilise people against the British has now degenerated into an abject noisy show of political power.

I remember in the 80s when any such procession accompanied by sound or music used to pass by a religious place of any other religion, they automatically used to stop playing music from a distance till they passed it by respectfully. Nowadays, the volume actually increases!

Dussehra has lost its original relevance of the triumph of good over evil, and has become a symbol of might is right.

And there is more noise and pollution in Diwali. The louder and more polluting the firecrackers, the better; seems to be the new motto. The original concept of diyas or earthern lamps is now restricted only to photo-ops.

Happy Diwali, folks!

Buy Medical Insurance wisely (my personal experience)

Life has this amazing knack of playing roulette with you!

I had planned to write about my experiences with medical insurance on the first Sunday of this month, and a medical emergency on that Saturday itself took the entire weekend. And this Sunday was dominated by work.

Anyway, here goes. 6 points based on my experience of what to do – and what not to do – while buying medical insurance.

Buy what you need – not what saves you tax: We have this amazing thing in India of Rs.15,000 tax saving under section 80D (we all seem to remember this section, as we save the entire amount on tax). Hence, we all end up investing only this amount on Mediclaim. I did the same. But maybe it is not enough for some families. What if there are 3 children and aged parents to take care of? What if there is a medical history in the family that necessitates preparation through proper medical insurance planning? There are many possibilities. Always take into account all these factors while deciding how much to invest. Rs.15,000 should be the minimum, and not the only number. My own experience – my old policies had lapsed and I had to take a new policy in 2007. I realised that I would have to shell out a huge premium for my parent’s insurance, as they are both above 60, hence in consultation with them, we decided not to take insurance for them.

Over the next two years, both of them required treatment, and we had to shell out of our own pockets!

Do not let your policies lapse: The second lesson I learnt. I had mediclaim till 2004, which we allowed to lapse when I went abroad. It would have cost next to nothing to keep it alive, but I allowed it to lapse. Result – when I came back and invested once again, I had to pay higher premia as we had moved into different age brackets, and we also lost all no-claim benefits.

Buy a floating cover, it is worth the extra premium: The harshest lesson I learnt over the past one year. I have insurance for myself, my wife and both the children. On seeing the difference in premium, I decided to go in for separate policy amounts for each individual, insuring myself for the highest sum, followed by my wife, and then smaller amounts for the children. My daughter and I both needed hospitalisation this year. And while the amount for me was well within my insurance limits, the amount spent on my daughter’s treatment extended well beyond. This naturally took a huge chunk out of my savings. The funny part is – the total amount for both our treatments combined is less than 2/3rds of the total insured value for both of us. In other words, had I taken a floating cover, I would not have spent a rupee (apart from the minor amounts that insurance companies or their TPAs love to deduct).

Find out what insurance companies have tie-ups with good hospitals near your home: And go with only those companies which do. It is a simple but oft overlooked fact, but think about it. Where do we rush to in an emergency? The best hospital nearest to our house. And if at that time we have to also run around for money? It can get extremely harrowing. Believe me; we have been through it in the past year! Remember, it is not only for ourselves but also for our family members, who spend the best part of their day near home itself.

Find out who offers cashless treatment at a good hospital near your home: It follows from the previous point. You may get insurance, and everything may be in order, but if the hospital and the insurance agency do not have an agreement for cashless treatment, you could run around like a dog chasing its tail!

I had my accident on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, the hospital and my insurance company did not have a tie-up for cashless, and the hospital rules wanted us to pay Rs.1.4 lakhs for me to be operated upon immediately. And with my left hand broken (for those unaware, I am left-handed), I could not even sign a cheque. Even if I could, what use would it have been on a Sunday? It was only the emergency and possibly our family friend’s (who is a doctor known to the surgeon) discussion that made the hospital accept that they would do the surgery and we could make the payment the next day.

Everyone would not be as lucky!

Also, for me, claiming the money from the TPA was like getting money from a Jew! Have you heard of the saying “A fool can ask more questions than the wisest man can answer”. I am sure the person who coined this saying must have had to answer a doctor in an insurance company!

And the number of times they made me run around, I could qualify for the Olympics! They are expected to complete one process in 45 days, but you ask them about the claim on the 46^th day, and then they will start sending queries. The way the lady at the TPA counter acted aghast when I asked her how come their letters don’t reach our house when every other letter does, had to be seen to be believed. I get a strong feeling they do this only to delay payments.

I nearly gave up on one claim because I realised that I may end up spending more than 20% on taxi fare going back and forth, in addition to the huge waste of time! And when I stopped responding, they sent the cheque home – one year later!

I learnt the advantage of cashless a while earlier when my brother had to be rushed to hospital at midnight, and everything was taken care of like clockwork.

Do not trust your insurance agent: Sound a bit harsh, but it is true. Remember, he is doing a job, which is to sell you a medical policy. He may end up saying yes to everything you say, with just the right pauses and intonations to drive you towards where he gets more commission.

Decide your requirements, read the fine print and make your own decision.

After all, it’s your life – and your family’s.

Two little girls

There are quite a few huts just outside my office, all of them inhabited by - I believe - a single community of Gujarati tribals.

Typical of such settlements, these huts too have the usual assortment of drunk men, screaming women, dirty kids, crap on the road etc. All the usual elements that make 'people like us' crinkle our noses, look in the other direction and walk away. Even when people stop to give their leftovers or alms, it is a sight to see them holding the leftovers at an arm's length.

Amidst all this, two little girls catch my attention daily. Aged possibly 6 and 3, they are possibly among the most adorable girls one could see. Fair (not a criterion for beauty in my sight, but am mentioning it as a differentiator among slum kids one sees who get tanned by being exposed to the sun the whole day), glowing skins, bright eyes, really cuddly like soft toys. And generally pretty clean!

Like most slum kids, they have the most carefree smiles, which adds immensely to their entire demeanour. Give them a nice bath, dress them right, and I challenge any human with a beating heart not to pick them up, cuddle them, hold them close and bless them.

Every time I look at them, I wonder about their future. What would happen to them as they grow up in that environment? All sorts of questions, all sorts of worries crowd my mind.

Sometimes I also wonder if it is possible to take them away and bring them up with my own children. Or maybe get them a good foster home. Give them a chance at a bright future.

And then I think - is it right to separate them from their parents? Maybe, my view of a bright future is a product of my environmental conditioning; and they may wither in that. Possibly, where and how they stay are their roots. Maybe God wanted them to be the wild flowers they are, and not the ornamental flowers in the four walls of a house.

Also, all those other 'societal' thoughts - how will their parents react if I talk to them; what will other people say; can I really take care of them; will - by opening their cocoons, I'll end up killing the butterflies inside?

But then, maybe again, maybe God has raised this paternal feeling in me to be the catalyst for a change in their lives...

Questions, thoughts, confusions. What do I do?

An Open Letter to Arif Naseem Khan

Mr. Arif Naseem Khan
Suburban Guardian Minister
Mumbai

I read with a great sense of anguish about your rebuke to the RTO officials who conducted the raid on autorickshaw drivers who tamper with their meters.

You as a minister are expected to uphold the law and the moral fibre of the city and constituency you represent. And yet, here you are, reprimanding officials who are doing their job, and taking the side of professional strike callers and cheats.

Isn’t the very fact that 97 out of 150 rickshaws tested a clear indicator of who is at fault?

Have you, Mr. Minister, personally travelled as an ordinary citizen in an autorickshaw and seen what the public has to put up with?

Your statement, “RTO officials can initiate action against illegal meter shops but they must stop unnecessarily harassing rickshaw drivers” reeks of - well, let me not express it in words! But the next time the traffic police conducts any checks on drunk drivers, I believe they would say, “Raid the bars and liquor shops, don’t harass us”.

Your other statement, “We all know what happens at RTO offices and how things work” is another gem!

Your statements tell me simply that you are aware of “what happens” and yet, you have shirked in your duty as an elected representative of the people. In a private organisation, you could have been sacked for such wilful negligence of duty, but it is a travesty and a joke of our democratic process that you would be elected again and again!

Mr. Khan, take my word for it; go and praise the RTO officials, encourage them to do their work without fear or favour, ensure that errant autorickshaw drivers are punished. You would get more votes this way. After all, that is what you want, isn’t it?

Yours sincerely,

Mubin Khan