Two sides to genius

All the talk about Argentine striker (club: Barcelona) Lionel Messi being the 'Messiah' after last week's Champions League final led me to think more on 'geniuses in sports' - 

List A: Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ryan Giggs, Vishwanathan Anand 

List B: John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Shane Warne, Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, Gary Kasparov

What's your perception after going through the above two lists? (which are certainly not exhaustive)

Genius has two sides to it. And both are equally marvellous. There is the refined genius which follows rules, adheres to systems and is the ideal role model. Then there is the maverick who in some ways is unpredictable, bohemian and brash but is an equally good master as his saner counterpart.

The root cause of how a genius turns out is probably a function of genetics and social conditioning both. Disturbed childhoods, traumatic experiences and a host of other factors might move a conventional genius into being a maverick.

PS: For all my money's worth, I couldn't figure out where to place Sourav Ganguly. Where would you add him?

Head over Heels

This post was actually meant to be published on MD's birthday a few days ago, but then Bangalore-Puducherry happened and it got left out. 

Mohini, Mohini, Mohini…*

If Helen of Troy was the face that could launch a thousand ships, she was the face that could launch a thousand movies. When this* chant was inserted as an intro for a film song, little did they know that it would catapult the actress to stardom. She later on went to prove that she was a mohini indeed, an enchantress nonpareil; the real ‘acid’ that would burn a thousand hearts! If these many references can’t get you to guess whom I’m talking of, then go take a hike to the next hill!  There is only one of her kind – the inimitable Madhuri Dixit!

The face where a thousand expressions flit with ease, the grace and beauty undying till date, the smile that can set a million men into a tizzy, her laugh which can set thousands of hearts on a flutter –  you really wonder what there is, not to like in her. For me, she’s arguably the best beauty to have graced Bollywood (I haven’t seen much of Madhubala, who people describe was/is the epitome of beauty, other than a couple of songs and pics to judge, honestly). She danced her way into Bollywood with the cult classic – Ek, do, teen… That song did more than teach the nation to count the days of the month in Hindi. Saroj Khan (her choreographer) deftly extracted the best from her – Madhuri had arrived. And how!

As good an actress that she is, for me she stands out as the best dancer in the movie business. If you have any doubts, you need not take my word for it. I’d urge you to check out a few of her songs. Be it classical or free-form; be it Indian or Western, Madhuri lends a certain grace and personal touch to the choreography that cannot be imitated by anyone, na… not even by watching her songs a zillion times. Be it the highly popular Ek, do, teen (Tezaab); or the song that stopped one’s heartbeats, contrary to what the lyrics suggested – Dhak dhak karne laga (Beta)!

Choli ke peeche kya hai (Khalnayak)? asked a song very suggestively, and Madhuri added sensuality sans vulgarity. She looked like the hottest fisher-woman on the planet as she swayed to Humko aaj kal hain (Sailaab). Who can forget her diamond-cut back open blouse and blue saree of Didi tera dewar deewana (Hum Aapke Hain Kaun) fame?  She grooved to Ankhiyan milaun (Raja) and gave Sanjay Kapoor his (once and forever) two minutes of fame! She also single-handedly managed to make Bengal gram fields sexy when she sang about the scuffles in Chane ke khet mein (Anjaam). She swayed to Mera piya ghar aaya (Yaarana); which makes me wonder, which piya wouldn’t be glad to see her? No one else could have carried off the role of Pooja of Dil To Pagal Hain – a dancer by profession (Shiamak Davar’s delight, I am sure). She matched Prabhu Deva in Que sera sera (Pukar), and gave all the leading ladies a run for their money with the grace and poise she exuded in Maar dala (Devdas), inspite of having to manage the dress weighing almost 30kgs (I read)! I’ve tried in vain to twitch the eyebrows, one at a time, like she did. Sadly all I manage is a look which words can’t describe. What’s more, she made Aishwarya pale in comparison (aah, who cares about the ‘others’) when they matched steps in Dola re dola (Devdas). She made a comeback through Aaja Nachle, the title track of which is a delight to watch, for the Madhurian charm (there, I even made an adjective!)

She can make any co-star look appealing (Sanjay Kapoor and Akshay Kumar cases in point) and can turn any song into a blockbuster. Who else has made each costume of each song iconic? Whether it’s the orange sari of Dhak dhak; the blue sari of Didi tera dewar, the fisherwoman look of Sailaab, the ghagri choli of Choli ke peeche or the resplendent green costume of Maar dala? You are forced to go to cinema halls (Koyla), stick to the channel playing her movie (Raja) and stay glued to it to watch her on screen (Jhalak Dikhla Jaa) no matter how bad the film/show has fared, such is her charisma!

She can look sensuous without looking slutty; she can give Munni and Sheila a run for their money, any day – hands down! She is the lead star and the item girl, all rolled into one. The fact that she is/was a certain Hussain’s muse and she had a movie named after her, in which a small town girl aspires to be her (Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon!) is ample proof of her popularity and magic. No doubt, the first crush for my generation. Even today, she need only smile once and you will hear a collective gasp from the audience. Guaranteed.

High time this chant* is altered to give the person behind the persona some credit -

Madhuri, Madhuri, Madhuri…

That’s more like it.

Write here, write now

Tracing the 'evolution' of my writing - from the start to date…

We never used slates in school but Baba always insisted I use one at least for practicing Math problems using chalks (for ease and of course saving paper); the subject which was under his tutelage. 

That was the stage of pencils as well. At the start of each academic year in the month of June, every child had a brand new set of pencils, along with of course the other ‘accessories’ such as the eraser and the sharpener and a pencil box to keep them. It was the parents' duty to sharpen each of them (not the child, the pencil!) and arrange them neatly in the pencil box and it was the child's duty to lose at least one of them (not the parents, the pencil!) on the first day itself. The pencil shavings were another source of inspiration and fascination! Some of us used to preserve them and create objects out of them (their degree of sophistication is debatable), the most common one being the ‘rose’, created by simply collecting the shavings and curling one over the other. Then there were some who used to poke others (no Facebook Poke then, the 

real deal) after sharpening the pencil to the maximum point. 

The next stage, the one I was awaiting, came when I was in the 4th standard - the fountain pens! The smell of the ink, the proud feeling of holding a ‘grown ups writing instrument’, the stains on the fingers, clothes, bag and of course, the smooth flow of the nib against the sheet of paper. There was a lot of variety to choose from, and I don't mean the Parkers etc. They differed based on the way they stored the ink (plain filling or suction) and so on and so forth… 

The crucial times were the tests and exams. You would have to be foolish to not carry an extra one then as unknown to us, Murphy started influencing our lives then itself - if a pen had to malfunction, it would do so right on the day of the test/exam! The stress was sometimes relieved through the pen and there were a few students who would unknowingly shake it, not to help the ink to flow, but out of habit and ‘tension’ and inadvertently sprinkle some drops on those sitting around him/her :D

After that came "the others". I wouldn't want to waste too much space for them as though they have made our lives simpler and brought down the costs drastically, they are neither functionally fascinating nor aesthetically pleasing. Yes, the ball point pens. Of course I have dismembered them too, to check how they function. There was this one pen which used to be a favourite during exam time – Cello Maxwriter, now that one really did write smoothly and strained the hands lesser than when holding the others.

The gel pens, the fibre tip pens (not very reliable, especially if you write with great force) and of course the ‘pilot pens’. Remember those black/white ones with the arrow mark at the head near the nib? Those were really the rage sometime (many years) back!

I fear that's about it. Nowadays any ‘writing’ involves this keyboard and the mouse. Not much fun in that if you can't even doodle on the last page, or scratch off something after second thoughts (now don't be a smart alec and mention the html code for "strike out")!