बुरसटलेले विचार!

 बुरसटलेले विचार!

मला व्हॉटसॅपवर (on WhatsApp) असे पोस्ट मिळाले. पोस्ट पाहून पाठ्वण्याऱ्याची कीव वाटली. किती हे बुरसटलेले विचार!

आपण अशा पोस्टची सहमत नसाल तर तो पुढे पाठवू (forward) नये किंवा त्यावर आपले मत व्यक्त करावे असे मला वाटते.
आज आपण पहातो अनेक स्त्रिया कॉर्पोरेट क्षेत्रात उच्च पद सांभाळून आपल्या घराकडे - मुलाबाळांकडे चांगल्या रीतीने बघतात. ऑफिस मधला त्यांचा पोशाख (office attire) त्यांच्या कोणत्याच कामा आड येत नसतो. ही माणसे अजून आईच्या पदराचाच आधार घेत असावीत. असो. 

किरण बेदी ज्यांच्या विषयी आपण नेट वरून (विकिपीडिया -Wikipedia) बरेच जणू शकता. सुटा-बुटातील ह्या महिलेने आपली कन्या सुकृतीला भरपूर आनंद दिलाच असावा आणि कोणतीही हयगय ना करता उत्तम क्षिक्षण देऊन मोठे केले.

डॉक्टर मॉनिका ह्या एक उत्तम आणि प्रख्यात स्त्री रोग तज्ज्ञ (gynaecologist) आहेत. बहपैलू असे त्यांचे व्यक्तिमत्व. हौस म्हणून त्या डी. जे. (A disc jockey) बनणे आणि वेस्टर्न पेहराव घालून आपला पेशा व घर सांभाळून दोन मुलींना उच्च क्षिक्षण देत आहेत. त्या अतिशय विनम्र म्हणजे इंग्रजीत आपण डाउन टू अर्थ (down to earth) आहेत. 

आणि हे पहा एका मुलाने (NRI) लिहिलेले  पत्र मी ते शब्तशः(in verbatim) पुन्हा सादर करीत आहे :

I am of course sad that when  Aai passed away none of you guys were around at her funeral but that is the price you pay when you want to be away from your roots. I must say that Aai over the years after my dad passed away became more aware of her strengths which she didn’t have the avenue to demonstrate earlier. I always tried to give her space and do what she wanted. I am a bit disappointed with myself that I should have thought of getting her remarried. But by the time I realized it was a bit late. It didn’t even strike me that I should think of it seriously even when few of my American friends used to ask me if she is going to get re-married. The way they think is – hey you live until 80-90 years – an everyone needs companion – but coming from that culture it was initially a bit awkward to think but then I realized my mistake.. 

Over the years Aai had begun to love US as I could see her adaptability to go to stores, library and travel by herself. She was to a large extend dressing more in pants, t-shirt and shoes too. I believe she was at peace (she looked also very calm on the death bed) and wanted to pass away in my house and in US.

Fortunately for me there is an Indian family who treats me as their son and this lady Shah Aunty (My US mom) took charge and took care of me as a mother and guided me through Aai’s  ceremony and continues to exert right over me as her son.

Well it was very nice to get an email from you. We have been lucky that we come from a broad minded and educated background. We should surely keep in touch and continue on these lines.

आणि ह्या सुटा-बुटातल्या बाई कोण? ओळखता का?

इंद्रा नूयी - नाव ओळखीचे वाटते? अलीकडे अमेरिकेच्या राष्ट्र अध्यक्षांच्या निवडणूक प्रचाराच्या वेळी? होय, अगदी बरोबर! हिलरी क्लिंटन ह्यांना त्यांनी साथ दिली. आणि डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प राष्ट्र अध्यक्ष झाल्यावर त्यांनी एक मुलाखतीत निवणूक प्रचाराच्या वेळी ट्रम्प ह्यांनी स्त्रियां बद्धल अप्रतिष्ठीत उद्दगारा  वरून असे म्हंटले :

शब्दशः(in verbatim) पुन्हा सादर करीत आहे:: 
“Forget about the Pepsi brand. How dare you talk about women that way. If we don’t nip this in the bud it is going to be a lethal force in society. I had to answer a lot of questions from my daughters, from our employees. They were all in mourning. Our employees were all crying. And the question that they're asking, especially those who are not white, is 'Are we safe?' Women are asking 'Are we safe?' LGBT people are asking 'Are we safe?' I never thought I would have to answer those questions,"   आणि त्या पुढे म्हणाल्या,

"How dare we talk about women that way. I don't think there's a place for that kind of language in any part of society, not in locker rooms, not in football players' homes, not in any place. And, if we don't nip it in the bud, Andrew, this is going to be lethal force that's going to take over society.There was an overemphasis on candidates creating sound bites and social media-ready quotes throughout the election, which resulted in a failure to discuss real political issues in a nuanced manner. I believe Americans needed to unite and accept the outcome of the election.The process of democracy happened.We just need to let life go on.

 आणि ट्रम्प ह्यांचे अभिनंदन करून नागरिकांना आपले स्त्रियां बद्धलचे विचार केवळ "election talk"होते हे त्यांनी सिद्ध करावे. 

 इंद्रा नूयी ह्यांचा जन्म २८ ऑक्टोबर,१९५५ साली मद्रास येथे झाला. त्यांचे शालेय शिक्षण होली एंजलस अँग्लो इंडियन हायर सेकंडरी स्कुल  पूर्ण झाले. १९७४ साली त्या भौतिकशास्त्र (Physics), रसायनशास्त्र (Chemistry) आणि गणित (Mathematics) घेऊन  मद्रास ख्रिश्चन कॉलेज मधून B.S. १९७४ मध्ये उत्तीर्ण झाल्या आणि पुढे कलकत्त्यातील इंडियन इन्स्टिट्यूट ऑफ मॅनॅजमेण्ट मधून एम बी ए (MBA ) झाल्या. त्यांची पुढील वाटचाल परदेशात झाली. आज त्या पेप्सी कंपनीच्या सी इ ओ (CEO) असून त्यांची  जगातील १०० पॉवरफुल विमेन मध्ये गणना होते. 

तेंव्हा आपले बुरसटलेले आणि मागासलेले विचार सोडून जाणून घ्या की स्त्रीचा पेहराव तिची खरी ओळख नसते आणि हे आपले संकुचित विचार आपल्या मुलांवर लादु नका, त्यांना चांगले शिक्षण देऊन त्यांची जोपासना करा!

                                                                                                   विनय त्रिलोकेकर 

A big thank you, Dr. Jay Dhurandhar!

 

A big thank you, Dr. Jay !

It is 25th September, 2021. Oh, Jay, on your 82nd birth anniverjsary,  I reposting my entire blog once again:

You have gone away, but you will always remain in our hearts forever! I

WE THE PIONEERS OF TWENTY 20- GACHHICRICKET - THE TERRACE CRICKET

As I pass by this site at Hughes Road ( Pandita Ramabai Marg) I imagine that there still stands the AJINKYA MANSION and.....

 ---- A tennis ball comes down the terrace. Thud --- it has fallen  on the roof of the temple opposite, another thud---it is down on the road below.---“Ball please”--- “Throw the ball, please”, we are all shouting from the gachhi (terrace) above. Ganpat and Laxuman already down on the road to fetch the ball. The ball is retrieved by Ganpat of course (he can spot or even smell the ball, it seems). Then you hear, “the whole team is out”. “Ha, ha, ha!”---- the laughter in unison of the opponents. “No way, it was not off the bat”. “It’s a tenner”. The scene ran past my eyes. I almost laughed out loudly.

 “Hey bhai, kanha khoye ho?”, a shout from the taxi driver, jolts me back to the reality. The Ajinkya Mansion stood no more.  but my journey down the memory lane continues.

‌Every Sunday afternoon (almost every Sunday) there would be a knock on the door.  Even without opening the door I would know that Sandeep had come to tell us that it was time to leave. It was our routine on Sundays- all four of us – Sandeep, Amar, Siddhartha and I would leave our house and assemble in the terrace of Ajinkya Mansion much before others would. Soon the other regulars would join. Jay, Viju, Bandu, Kiran, Salil, Dilip, Amit, Laxuman and Ganpat were the other regulars. We, the regulars played practically every Sunday - the practice games. The other gang would join the fun on the Match Day ( a monthly affair). Mahesh (Mahesh Kothare), Suresh (Suresh Mankar), Anik, Nrupal (Nrupal Kothare), Ashit (Ashit Prabhakar), Paras (Paras Doshi) and a few others that enabled us to form the two teams fighting for the Jenma Trophy (needless to say sponsored by Mahesh). Kunal (Kunal Vijayakar) must have come twice or thrice at the most. He had stopped playing ever since he had that verbal exchange with Kiran, his maternal uncle. He had dropped a few catches and the uncle was very furious with him.  Nikhil and Pravin came once in blue moon. Akshay too came some times.

‌(Mahesh Kothare) and Jay (Late Dr. Jay Dhurandhar) would invariably be the opposing captains. In case I had done well in the practice game on the previous Sunday, I would land in Jay’s team, if not then was thrown in the other team and so was the fate of the other regular players as well. Viju always kept wickets for Mahesh's team and Jay kept it for his own team. Jay had a big say in making the rules of the game. We all know that cricket is a funny game and our rules made it more so. I think, we should also get credit for the phrase / idiom 'Rules are made to be broken'. If a ball bowled went full toss out of the terrace the batting team would get a Tenner (ten runs). As the luck would have it – the first tenner ever given to the opponents was by none other than Jay. Then there was this funny concept of the Whole Team Getting Out. In case the ball hit by a batsman went down and out of the terrace, the whole team (remaining batsmen) was declared out. I remember – I was playing for Jay’s team (I remember quite clearly) and had opened the innings for them. After scoring some runs, I saw a juicy full toss from Mahesh and bang- I hit the ball – high-high it went- Oh no! Out of the terrace! The whole team out! The rule was soon abolished. Mahesh had a unique way of fielding – falling flat on the ball- stopping the ball, more by the body mass than his own anticipation. Ashit bowled both off breaks and leg breaks with same grip.( I confess now -  I always found it hard to guess which way the ball would turn) Laxuman’s grip was equally unique- holding the blade of the bat with his left hand and the right hand just lightly touching the handle – he would take the left - hander's stance and pivoting his body on his toes he would swing his bat with all his might. Either bowled or a six were the only possible result. Jay was an expert in the reverse sweep stroke until once Bandu ( playing for the opponents) had scored more runs by reverse sweeping. A new rule was immediately framed - Reverse Sweep not allowed.There was no running between wickets.(most of us were simply unable to run - being obese, bulky,over weight, etc. Sandeep and Kiran being the exceptions) No ones, twos or threes – We dealt only in boundaries. A hit on the parapet wall scored a ‘4’ and a full toss hit , a ‘6’. Then there was this tenner by default. Bowling was under arm and each batsman was allotted 4 overs, one each from four different bowlers. Thus each team would play around 20 overs.  So you see we were the first – to start the limited overs Twenty-20 Cricket. Had there been Under- Arm Cricket World Cup, many of us would have played for India.

We were free from match fixing. We fought fiercely. At times the tempers would run very high. There would banging of bats on the floor (thank God Ajinkyas and Dhurandhars occupied the floor below and not any other tenant) and throwing of caps on the ground and shouts of “No way, no way”. Nrupal , Kiran , Mahesh and Jay were experts in throwing tantrums. Perhaps Uday (Dr. Uday Goraksha) was the coolest one. Umpiring was the prerogative of the batting side. Some times we did have a guest umpire, mostly Amber mama (Mahesh's father) and whenever he did officiate, Mahesh’s team would invariably lose - all the umpiring decisions by him were then ruled in favour of the opponents. May be wanted to prove a point – that he would never favour his son or his team. Nevertheless, all of it was a great fun. In between the serious business of playing, we had some lighter moments too. Once, a ball had fallen down in the chowk below and Ganpat ran across and peeped down to spot the ball so that he could retrieve it without wasting time in searching for it. As he dashed across he banged against Sandeep who was also leaning from the terrace parapet. Sandeep’s spectacles went cart – wheeling down below and fell in the chowk as well. After the customary apologies Ganpat ran down. He soon found the ball the specs as well and then he shouted from the chowk , “ चष्म्याला काहीही झाले नाही, फक्त काच फुटलाय आणि एक काढी तेव्हढी तुटलाय. बाकी चष्मा ठीक आहे -  (Nothing has happened to the specs. Only the glasses are smashed ----)  Up until now Sandeep had taken every thing sportingly (he had even remarked that it was just an accident) But now Sandeep was seething with anger! And it was like rubbing salt to the wound, when Mahesh joked " It's okay. Get them. Sandeep will use them as magnifying glasses". Now Sandeep was fuming. But then he was in Mahesh's team and even batted without the specs, scoring good runs for the team. That was sportsman spirit for you.He was declared the Man Of The Match.

After the match – the dinner party, the Revolving or rather Rotating Trophy (as it always remained in Jay’s Consulting Room) would be handed over to the winning captain with all the fan fare, snaps being taken, thank you speeches and what not. But most of us more interested in the glasses in our hands and jokes and gossiping sessions. Arvind  bhauji was always in his elements and enlivened the party with his crispy jokes. He was also informative, encyclopedia on Foods - what was good in the Police Canteen, which Irani served the best keema pav, where were the best Falooda or  Ferni joints, so on and so forth. (Kunal must have had his grooming lessons done here)  Sandeep has inherited this gift (to some extent). SANDEEP!--- that reminds me—Once after our match Jay had announced that Sandeep Patil was to come for the party as the chief guest. No one believed him .We thought that it was one of his usual dhap (bluff). But there he was, in Sandeep Patil in person! Sandeep Patil had come with Ramdas Padhey. Their wives too had accompanied them. Naturally he was offered a drink. Initially, he declined to accept our offer. But after a lot of coxing by all of us, he went, had some discussion with his spouse and said, “I shall have a beer”. I do not know what made him change his mind or was he seeking permission to drink? 

There were others too, who hardly participated in our cricket matches but came and made these parties enjoyable. Kunal ( Vijayakar) with his Striptease Act – the twisting and wriggling motion  of his torso, turning his neck from one side to the other, then removing the T - Shirt and throwing it in the crowd (at this juncture some one or the other would stop him from going any further) – The whole act was a treat to watch. Nitin’s (Mankar) Don Scene – Khainke pan Banaras walla – was always fresh. (His sudden passing away was very shocking and sad). We miss all this and many who have left us. Yes, Jay we miss you so much. 

 As I stand near this construction site, oblivious of the traffic and the people around, I look up --there isn't any terrace------ hear no shouts from above of 'ball please'---  huge metallic sheets block my view, hiding the site where once stood tall  - Ajinkya Mansion

And the clink - clank  continues - am kmidst  the loud metallic sounds the 'Haya hoosh' and 'Gop - Nikal' of the labourers is all that I hear.. 

But memories come rushing back ---Simply nostalgic!

Oh Jay, we surely miss you. But you will always remain in our hearts. Thank you so much for giving us those wonderful and  unforgettable moments.

Vinay Trilokekar