Premchand's stories by Gulzar

Doordarshan is showing "Tahreer Munshi Prem Chand ki" .
Directed by GULZAR .Sundays 9 PM , since July. Someone told me about it.
I missed it. :-(
They say that 'Godan ' was very good.

Looking forward to this Sunday's story. :-)

Naming names

It is a difficult task to search a name for a new born.Everyone wants a diffrent and meaningful name.Friends, relatives,grandparents suggest some name or other.Few"different" names I came across:Once, in train I heard a mother calling her son...ATEET (past) A friend suggested RIMLI for my daughter he didn't know the meaning but said its a bengali name (tell me if anyone knows abt it) There are so many but can't remember now.But the name which intrigues me most is PARTHIV (patel) I have heard this word only in one context 'parthive shareer'. I think Parthiv means Worldly. but i really hope it means something cute and nice like our lil cricketer.

laugh

I just love to laugh and almost worship the person who can make me laugh till I cry. Some people have it in them. Very simple joke they crack in a way that it works. I had the opportunity to attend two Hasya Kavi sammelens and I laughed till my ribs ached. (Ashok Chakradhar and many real good kavi out there) 

 In college there used to be latest jokes, situations, to do the needful .Now I depend on TV. Shekhar Suman, Johny lever (his stage shows) and Saajid Khan are the few I enjoy. The way Shekhar mimics Atal Bihaari Bajpai, Amitabh, Dharmendra, Sonia Gandhi , Mithun and many more, is really very funny. Here are few jokes told by him in his programme. In written form it doesn’t sound that funny. it's difficult to recollect but I’ll try.

 News item: Doctors remover 7 kg of stone from a man’s stomach. The man says that he would use it (the stone) to make his driveway, and after the operation his wife met him and called him “Pathaar ke Sanam”!

 He connects Looong pause of Atal ji to the menopause of other political parties ! 

A colleague/friend of my brother asked him to write an application ( to be sent to the MD) Said ‘Yaar teri English Theek thaak hai “ Brother typed one and gave him the print out. After going through it, with mock seriousness on his face told Yaar isme ‘has been’ to aaya hi nahi. Other’s may not found it funny but I had a good laugh.

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright

A few things like a special song a particular smell or some gesture  remind me of a particular person, memory or a moment. Like-
Aroma of paratha –grandma’s kitchen (Cliché ! cliché ! but true).
Morning tea --Dad.
Amitabh Bachhan style of dancing---Parul , my friend.
Maggi noodles----Tungnath (temple)
Dusk.....

Tungnath is one of the five famous Shiva temples (Panch Kedar) of Garhwal. This trek makes one of my favourite memories:

To escape the hot weather of Dehra and monotony of the long days of summer vacations I planned a trip. Somehow I could assemble/ agree 10 people (aged 5 to 40) More people meant more jokes,more songs, more fun.


Started from Rishikesh we drove up along the river Ganga. Reached Srinagar for lunch at a roadside dhaba. Couldn’t resist a nap after the food, though I wanted to enjoy the scenic drive. The song ‘Daiyya, Daiyya re’ (film dil ka rishta, one of driver’s Special) was repeatedly played by the Tata sumo driver.

When woke up, I found myself at a place where Jim Corbett had killed the man eater of Rudraprayag who killed 100s of people in this area. Our guide/guardian Natraj, an avid reader, told us many stories about the tigers, like a tiger always attacks its prey from his back. It walks so stealthily that the victim is unaware of its presence.
Night halt at Syalsaur in log-huts on the bank of Mandakini was a wonderful experience. After 3 hours of drive we were at Chopta, the base camp for our destination.

The trek starts from here. The path was well constructed with Shale rocks. After a while appeared the lush green meadows and in front of us was the breathtaking view of the snow covered peaks of Himalayas. Natraj who visited this place during winters told that he saw the pugmarks of …a tiger, when the trek was covered with the thick snow.
Panting, tired and damn hungry, we reached Tungnath temple. After Darshan we had Maggi and aloo Paratha at the only Dhaba out there. Yes, Maggi noodles still remind me of that place. Time to go back but the submit Chandrasila was still a km away. Others returned to Choptaa and the newlyweds (Nuts and wife) and I started for Chandrashila.

This one km was a bit tough but once we reached the top, it was a great feeling. While coming down we spotted a tea shop. Had tea and chatted with the shop owner and his wife. Time was flying away and we knew that it will take at least one hour to reach the base camp. Climbing down was not that easy as I had thought.
Now it was pitch dark. In my mind only one thing was there..Tiger! Attacks from the back…Pug marks…Though we didn’t utter a word about it.
Yes I was scared!

Reached Chopta safely. But dusk still reminds me of a tiger sometimes…

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