Joy of watching TV-Cricket

The contents of this post is especially for those who know at least a little bit of the game of Cricket.  Other ignoramuses also can read it!  Observations in this are "in my personal  opinion". 

My own TV grab of a memorable moment

Watching a cricket match on TV is not just sitting back, with some junk food by the side, counting runs, overs and wickets.  Cricket is for enjoyment of both the player and the beholder.  I have seen many people while watching games on TV or following the game, take sides.  Taking sides is not a healthy habit, because it is a hindrance to enjoy the other plentiful intrinsic thrills of cricket.  It is beyond mathematical figures and statistics. 

Cricket is one of the most unpredictable games, which we all know.  This is due to varied combination of many factors that get involved in the process of a match.  Climatic conditions, nature of the pitch, location, size and shape of the ground, time of the day, humidity, sunlight, now the dew factor in ODIs [day-night], quality and brand of ball, players' form, fitness and frame of mind and so on!

Cricket would not have got so popular at all if it was without those unpredictable elements.  Tell me why Don Bradman or Sachin Tendulkar, could not score a century each time they walked out to bat or Shane Warne  took a wicket every few deliveries he bowled.  Tell me why blinders of catches are held or simple catches floored.  Tell me why direct throws at stumps from a short distance miss?  Tell me why batsmen sometimes get out to seemingly 'loose deliveries'.  Tell me why they can sometimes hit a seemingly 'good' delivery for a sixer.  Tell me why batsmen sometimes get out at their own score on 99. Tell me why a player is said to be 'out of form' or 'in fine form'.  Tell me why players prepare so much, practice a lot, work hard and yet perform poorly in the match?  Can these be explained?  The post mortem words like 'ifs, buts, should have, should not have...' have no meaning.  Because, things 'happen at that moment it happens'!  They just happen!  

There are two categories of people who watch cricket on TV.  One category has just cricket fans or followers or casual enthusiasts and the other has players who have actually played the game.  Relatively, the latter enjoy more because they know why and how certain things happen or do not happen during a game as the nuances of the game are better understood by them from experience.  The former lot may miss grasping them, probably also because their focus is on 'their own desired end results'!  We find more 'side takers' among the former lot.  All said and done, there are quite a few from the former category, even mothers-in-law, that are good at analyzing games! 

Siding a team makes one tense esp., if the favoured team does badly.  I know some friends who stay away from the TV when India is playing, because they cannot tolerate Team India losing!  They expect the opponents to lose every match!  Patriotism should not be taken too far while watching a cricket match from a comfortable sofa!   Of course who does not like to see our Team India win games?  There are better ways to savour 'watching victories' than to go out to the streets and shouting or bursting crackers in the dead of the night disturbing the neighbourhood!

[A local cricket match at Maharaja's College Ground, Mysore].  

Cricket is a hard-fought game played between two teams on the field and the winner is always the one who performs better than the other on that particular day.  Sometimes we also say that 'cricket is the winner' when a game ends in a thrilling draw after the two sides that played good exciting cricket throughout.  Some people get involved in the game they are watching and get very emotional, to the extent that they feel as if they are commanding the actions on far away grounds, when even players playing the game do not know what happens in the next minute or ball!  Shorter versions of the game have less cricketing thrills than the longest version, Test Cricket.

After all, what is cricket [in brief]?  Read and understand this beautiful description inscribed on stone at Kingsmead Oval's Centenary Museum in Durban, South Africa.  It is about Test Match Cricket:

You have two sides; one out in the field and one in.  Each man that's in the side that's in goes out when he is out.  He comes in and the next man goes in until he's out.  When they are all out, the side that's out comes in.  And the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in out.  Sometimes you get men still in and not out.  When both sides have been in and out including the not outs.  That's the end of the match.  That is Cricket!


~~~~<'}}><~~~~~~

Empty Photography

I was requested to help out in the role of a photographer for my sister-in-law's wedding.  Chickmagalur was the venue.  I reluctantly agreed [for my first stint], since 'I had a camera'. 1993 was still the 'film camera era'.  

'My' camera was actually my friend Girish Nikam's, of Russian make.  He had bought that camera a many years earlier for four hundred rupees [cheap] from a studio owner whom he knew, on Dhanvantri Road.  He had left it behind in his parents' house as he was not using it any longer and also had left the city for greener pastures.  It was a second hand camera which I think was 'repaired and sold' off to him because he was looking for a camera that used 35 mm films.

Here is the "Cosmic Symbol" Russian Camera, fully manual.

I had given my obsolete [it used paper film rolls - 12/roll] box camera to Girish some time ago before he left Mysore.  I wanted it back for its square lenses and also for its bit of sentimental value - this was the first camera that was bought in the family to coincide with my sacred thread ceremony.  Its cost was a hefty one hundred rupees 40 years ago.  There were others more expensive also at that time.  So when I went to his parents' house to ask for that camera.  Girish's mother felt bad to know that it was mine because she had disposed off as 'junk' with other items.  That was bad news to me.  Seeing my dejection,  she remembered Girish's Russian camera lying idle and brought it out to me saying 'you can have this', instead.  That is how it came to me!  I had written to Girish later about this!


It became a new toy for me to open up and experiment, as was my wont. After exposing a couple of black and white rolls [35mm] taking my kid's pictures, I had noticed that there was a slight glitch in the winding mechanism.  Black and white, because it was much cheaper to experiment than colour film.  It was taking reasonably good pictures, but the winding was not happening properly.  I set it right myself after diagnosing the exact problem.  My watch-repair tools and some common sense came in handy.   I shifted to colour rolls, once I was fully convinced.  It took reasonably good shots.  

I was looking for a flash.  I came to know that my cricket team mate from Hyderabad had one that he was not using and he was kindly willing to part with me.  He later sent it through his local team mate when we met in another city for another tournament!  That is how this got to me, a few weeks before the Chickmagalur wedding I was to use.

Flash 

The camera and the flash [in good working condition] were both 'mine' now. A few dry runs were made to be assured about the flash’s performance.  It worked well most times.  'Most times' is not good!  It has to be every time!   Erratic.  I discovered that it was due to some glitch only in electrical contact.  It was getting 'shorted' somewhere.  The camera was now working well outdoors though. 

For the wedding at Chickmagalur, in order to be safe, I had borrowed from another friend, a simple automatic 'aim and shoot' camera with built-in flash.  This was supposed to be a stand-by arrangement.  Flash was of utmost necessity.   Taking shots indoors without flash was not feasible though not impossible.  

I loaded a new roll of colour film into my camera and another to the borrowed one as well. My friend had orally explained how to load the film into it.  This was the first time I was loading a film into an automatic camera, myself.

On the way to Chickmagalur, we stopped over for a brief visit to the beautiful temple at Belur late evening. For my third shot here with my camera inside the temple the flash worked normally.  For the next shot, it would not work!  What I had expected, happened even before we even reached the destination!  Time after dinner at Chickmagalur was spent in trying to shoot the trouble.   I had taken my tools, expecting such a situation.  But the exact glitch was undetectable.   Without flash, the purpose of this camera became invalid as all the shots were to be indoors.  I decided not to carry it for the event the next day, but to go armed only with the borrowed second option camera. 

At the wedding ceremony, I was on a roll, with a film roll, in a new role.  The 'photographer' in me was on song, clicking away, waiting for 'right moments' to capture.  I even made people stand for snaps where and how I fancied, like a veteran photographer with an experience of covering one hundred events!   They obeyed me like school kids!!  *Smile, smile*!   I was to 'take pictures' only in one roll of 35-36 exposures.  

This is a rough cartoon I had drawn in 1977, imitating one of R.K.Laxman's.

When we returned to Mysore there were still 3 or 4 exposures left  – according to the camera counter.  To use up the full roll, some random shots were taken and it was taking the 37th frame, then the 38th!  It would not stop as it should and I was told that rewinding happens auto at the end of the roll.  Even 36 frames/roll is a rarity. So I used the option of rewind button, operated by motor.  Whirrrl.... whirrrl... it kept doing that for a long while!  Common sense told me - since I have not rewound by auto before - that it was strangely taking too long.  I dared opening the back to verify.  

Flash and Camera that got me tricked instead of being clicked!

I took the camera to the studio for 'developing and printing'.  While the man at the counter was opening the back to take out the cartridge, I told him my doubt.  My doubt was a fact and I was looking at it!  'Oh no!'  The film stayed put exactly the way I had put. The slots at the edge must have slipped as the cover was closed while loading.  Winding was also automatic in that camera.  I was shown where I had gone wrong in loading the film, though the camera counter kept running!  That was the misleading point. 

That I used that 'unused' roll for myself later on is another matter. Now I had two rolls.  You know where the other was! 

My one-and-only-time role of a photographer turned out to be an unwitting drama.   Years later, I can recall and laugh.  Laugh because, there was a professional photographer on duty there.  There was also a lesson or two learnt from this episode.

Sky gazing, Halley's Comet and more

Even since my younger days, star-gazing has been one of my smaller passions.  The 'Evening Star' [planet] Venus was the brightest object seen above the row of houses on the western side opposite our main door. The elders used to show it to me from a young age, telling it is 'Shukra Graha'.  Even now, it is a habit in the evenings to look for it in the evenings.  Some seasons it is a 'morning star'.  On numerous occasions Venus has guided me in knowing the direction when I am out of Mysore.  Of course, I used to watch the moon phases. My grandmother used to show the 'bidigay chandra' - the first crescent of the moon phase.  It became visible around sunset, low on the western sky.  Even this is a habit now.

[Picture by author]

When I was very young, I vaguely remember having got up in the wee hours of the night along with other elders in the family to watch a comet [in Kannada as 'dhoomaketu'], visible on the eastern sky, behind our mango tree!  I remember the tail to be pointing down and they compared the comet with a broom for its shape! This was probably in the mid 1960s.

In the 1970s or thereabouts, another uncommon phenomenon was observed above the Mysore skies. It was a colourful cloud-like thing, pinkish at that time, which they called as 'Aurora'.  It was also reported in the next day's paper. I remember it to have seen on the southern sky when it was getting dark that evening.  Auroras are common in some parts of the world.

There was another celestial event when planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn had lined up one above the other on the eastern sky on that known day, sometime in the early 1980s.  I remember having watched it from the kitchen window from where it was clearly visible.

I have also not missed watching eclipses also.  

Old wives' tales go around and get stuck.  Will mention just two here.  Arrival of comets signal a bad omen and watching a 'falling star' or shooting star [meteor/ite] will bring bad news.  My grandmother had brainwashed others about such things, among many, to the extent that they left a deep impression on our young minds.  Once I had seen a meteor while walking with others in the family.  'Nakshatra bitthu!'.. I announced ['a star fell'] and someone said..'something bad may be waiting.'  A few days later an aunt died - in 1971.  After that, I had become so frightened that I dreaded to look at the night sky, lest I noticed any shooting star!  I now wonder, about people watching meteor showers or astronomers who keep watching meteors every night?

Halley's Comet flew by in 1986.  It was doing so after 76 years and because of its long periodic cycle, it was getting wide publicity.  It was to be visible to the naked eye for nearly a month.  Its mania also had gone to the extent that many countries, including India, issued postage stamps of this celestial event and Halley himself.  Astronomers, in an attempt to create awareness about the comet and to drive away superstitions, were giving frequent educative short lectures.  The sessions also included setting up of a telescope for showing the comet and other planets which were on that night sky.

[Image of Halley's Comet from National Geographic website, Photo by James Balog]

When they say 'naked eye visibility' it means that the object is not bright and clear, but it had to be located and spotted amidst a sea of stars.  Once we knew where exactly to look for, it was easy to see the object.   Myself and my friend Keerthichandra had both attended a lecture given by a professor from the University. It was an inspiring lecture.  He taught us where and how the comet could be spotted.  Clarity of sky is a critical factor in star-gazing.  I must tell that skies were clear and vehicular pollution had not affected so much as to create a strong haze, as it has now.  We were able to see a lot many 'dots' and even fainter 'dots' [celestial objects] before the 1990s. .

I want to mention here that the most brilliant and clearest night sky I saw was at Subramanya, a place in the midst of green forests in the great western ghats.  This was in very recent years.  There was power failure at that time.  It had become pretty dark with no substitute lights on the railway platform.  We were waiting for our train back home from that pilgrimage trip.  When I looked up, my jaw dropped, in awe!  It was the starriest sky I had seen in a long long time!  I called out my children to take a look too.  We can count only hundred stars from our city, but there, zillions of them, bright and dull, all were on crystal clear display!  That is the reason why astronomers and star-gazers go far away from cities.

Back to Halley now.  For our 'sky gazing cum Halley sessions', myself, Keerthi and sometimes Krishna would gather.  The place was either near one of the beautiful stone benches on the peaceful Krishnaraja Boulevard or a stone bench in the open field of what was the M.D.T.D.B.College [now housing the Zilla Parishad] - gates were open.  The benches on the Boulevard have been removed and replaced with an ugly lawn but at the erstwhile 'College' [where famous Kannada actress late Arathi studied], a nice garden has replaced the thorny field [our cricket pitch as well]. The Boulevard and the field was so close to our homes that we could run back from there in one breath!

Our meeting time was usually at 9 pm, after dinner.  There was no Television [in most homes] in those days and so we had all the time for good things!  We would spend the next one hour watching the skies, looking at the comet many times and discussing various things.  Let me show the telescope I had made myself around 1976-77.

Lenses have been diamantled. 

Here they are. The wide one was the objective.  I had combined 2-3 small concave ones for the eyepiece to get more 'power' [magnification].  Boast- boast..... I had secured 24 out of 25 in my 12th Std [2nd PUC] Physics practical exam! :)  Beg, beg...... don't ask about other subjects and result!!

My telescope consisted of lenses from toy binoculars I had broken in my childhood, junked flashlight cases and a table lamp stand! It was a crude instrument, but still good enough, despite the difficulty in bringing the object in the view-range. I used to focus to the Great Nandi Bull on Chamundi Hill. People moving around it could be seen from the top of our house through it. The view was unobstructed in that time when I made it. 

At the time of watching Halley's in 1986, I was armed with my own, but Keerthichandra had his powerful12x binoculars.  With this it was easier to spot the comet.  Once it was done, the 'comet haze' was visible to the naked eye itself. It was in the Orion Constellation which itself  is easy to identify, with its near rectangle arrangement of bright stars and a cluster of fainter stars in its centre.  Observing its path for the entire month until it disappeared, was a good experience for us.  So much about Comet-following.

Now, back to that lecture.  Besides information about Halley's Comet the professor also gave some other interesting tit bits on astronomy.  For people to easily remember and recall the order from the Sun, the nine planets in our solar system, he mentioned a mnemonic, "My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets".  The first letter of each word represents the first letter of the planet names, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto. It reminded me of the two typewriting mnemonics, "A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." and "Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.", which contains all the letters of the English alphabet.  Just FYI, a mnemonic is a device such as a formula or an acronym, or a rhyme used as a memory aid.

After a few years, there was an article on star gazing in the local paper.  So I thought it was relevant at that time to let others also know about this impressive planet-mnemonic. My short letter was published.

Very soon, to my great surprise, there was this letter written by Sri G.T.Narayana Rao, who was a very renown personality in Mysore, an expert in astronomy and a science writer and critic, to briefly mention about him.  He was known to react strongly to matters that had even a slight inkling of  'astrology'.  He always argued with the planet number.

After a few years, I once met him during his walk, but he could not remember about this letter, quite expectedly.  I wanted to meet him again, more leisurely, to learn a bit more about stars and constellations, but that never happened.  He is no longer with us now.

I now found out from the web that there are quite a few mnemonics on this, besides the one I heard for the first time from the professor.

My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets.

My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.

My Very Evil Mummy Just Sat Upon Nathan's Potty.

My Very Easy Memory Jingle Seems Useful Naming Planets.

My Venomous Equestrian Monkey Just Sat Underneath Napoleons's Plantation.

My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Noodles.

Many Very Earnest Men Just Snubbed Unfortunate Ninth Planet.

Mary's Violet Eyes Make John Stay Up Nights.

My Very Educated Mother Just Said Uh-oh No Pluto.

Some of the above, without the 'P' were coined after Pluto was recently downgraded to a non-planet status, leaving the number of planets to eight.

In this link, you will find an interesting presentation about the comparative pace planets rotate round the Sun.

The tail of Halley's Comet touched earth in its previous visit, in 1910.  Something wonderful happened in the south Indian city of Kumbakonam. You can read a bit about it here in this link [click].  In 1986, it was not a close encounter.  I know not how close it will be when it flies by again in 2061.  There will not be many who survive to watch and also remember two 'fly bys' of Halley.

My Mulberry friend Devanath - tributes and memories

 I had noticed "C.J.Devanath" on a small old inconspicuous wooden name board, its paint distorted by exposure to weather and facing the harsh western sun.  It was hoisted on a wooden heritage balcony, behind which his 'lawyer office' was, upstairs.  I had this habit of looking up at those beautiful old balconies above the shops beside Sayyaji Rao Road. This was in the early 80s.

Around the same time, I happened to be in front of the old-coin vendor on the pavement, looking at some old coins, in front of Cauvery Emporium also on Sayyaji Road.  An old man was also showing some interest in the coins, spread on a sheet of plastic. I asked him if he too was interested in coins.  He nodded and said, just looking.  'Devanath' he said when I asked his name. I said I have seen that advocate's name board down there.  He smiled.  When asked if he had heard my advocate grandfather's name, he nodded with a grin.  I was happy.  That was our first meeting and I had forgotten about it.

In the 90s he had written a short letter in our local eveninger about how birds, esp. the Koel can be attracted to our garden. Birds are very important in the system for various reasons. Growing cities have affected bird life to a great extent what with authorities and even public carelessly chopping off trees which are homes of various species of birds even in cities.  So he was showing some concern about this and he had observed in his garden that Koels love Mulberry fruit.  

I had some space in our garden as well.  Koels, among other birds were already visiting my yard, but I thought there must be something special in it.  So wasting no time, I soon went to his house.  Road name was familiar, but the only thing left was to locate the house.  It was not difficult at all because on the other side of the Church was all too familiar to us because a relative was staying there.

He had some space in his spacious front yard filled with excellent greenery, between his house and the entrance gate, in silent Yadavagiri.  His home was next to a Church with added to the serenity of the place.  Since I was also interested in matters related to Nature and Gardens, this letter in 1992 attracted me.

I went in through the little gate that evening.  This man, probably around 70 then, was relaxing on a comfortable rattan chair in his garden, looking at the trees and shrubs.  He watched me walk towards him through the shady walkway.  I introduced myself as the grandson of K.M.Subba Rao, whom he knew as they were in the same profession.  He was glad to see me. When I told him about the letter in the paper and the reason for my coming, he was gladder!  Very soon, he started explaining how much the Koels love to eat the mulberry fruits and how important it is for us to attract birds.

 Morus alba - [Mulberry] - image from Wiki. The taste is pleasantly sour but likeable.

He was pleased to know that I wanted to grow it too.  His garden servant was working in his yard. He instructed him to get a few cuttings from that bushy shrub, which had grown quite tall.  As it was already getting dark, I took leave, thanking him profusely for the Mulberry cuttings.

The next morning, the first thing I did was to plant the cuttings in my garden. After a few days of care, I noticed that one of the 4-5 cuttings was showing healthy signs of good growth.  Once it was big enough, I transplanted it to the ground at the chosen spot.

In a few months, it grew tall and needed pruning!  It is a quick grower and grows without much attention, much to my liking!  It bore berries and I noticed that Koels, as he had told, got attracted to this little tree and were frequenting it. They also loved the Curry plant (Murraya koenigii - 'karibevu') for its fruit which was growing close to it.   I enjoyed watching the koels for a few years until I noticed that the tree was dying. It had grown quite big.  Probably termites had attacked the roots.  So there ended the mulberry tree but later our friendship begin to grow.

Devanath used to write columns and letters to the local paper loaded with historical information.  So I thought of meeting him again because it was yet another common interest.  Since he had a good library and he being a voracious reader, his articles, usually about Mysore's past, were very informative. He had a good collection of old pictures also. He had shown me B.L.Rice's Gazzeteer of Mysore and Coorg, in two large volumes.  It is considered a great work by Rice. He would not part with his books easily, but he trusted me and gave me some other books I wanted.  I also gave him some very old books for his reference, from my library. When I delayed returning his books, he would call to remind.

I used to meet him after calling him over phone once in a few months and chat about Mysore's past which he seemed to know in and out, and authentically. He had that amazing knack of reeling out names of persons and the posts they held, when he told about something.  So sharp was his memory.  It stumped me. Sometimes his wife, who also knew our family, used to prepare a cup of tea as we engaged in our chat.  Since they had no issues, they stayed together here and spent time leisurely.  They used to go and stay for a few weeks in Bangalore also where they had a house.  This he did when he went for his medical check-up or when he was unwell.

In 2009, I was shocked to see his picture in the paper informing his death. The following day, it carried a small tribute.  Some days later, I called up his wife to convey condolences.  I delayed personally meeting her, but by the time I went to meet after a few months, the house had a dry look, the garden greenery was now 'brownery'.  There was none in the premise. Windows were closed as if to indicate their association with that premise had ended, once for all. I assumed the expected fact - she vacating it.  I returned disappointed and also thought about his fine library of books and other old articles he had preserved with care.  I only hope they have ended up in their rightful places.  His passing away was a great loss to the city of Mysore.

The Hindu reports his passing away [screenshot image of online edition - click to enlarge]

From our chats, I had come to know that Devanath's father was Rao Bahadur H.C.Javaraiah, who was the first Indian Horticulture Director [credited for designing Lal Bagh at Bangalore].  His younger brother was Capt.C.J.Ramdev who was a famous cricketer who played for Mysore State and served the Army.  He proudly showed various photos of Ramdev and his cricket book collection.  Devanath was a former Member of Legislative Council, a respected citizen of Mysore, a respected advocate and a great historian whose knowledge about Mysore and Mysore's Royal Family was astounding. 

I was not knowing that he was a true Gandhian, having served as an 'ashramite' at Sevagram with Mahatma Gandhi between November 1945 to April 1946 along with his uncle H.C.Dasappa ["Dasappa Circle" near J.K. Grounds is named after him - Devanath used to proudly recall it] who was later Railway Minister in the Jawaharlal Nehru Cabinet, that he served the Indian National Congress for four decades and also served as a member of the executive committee of the Congress Legislative Party.  I learn that he also worked as Secretary of the Mysore Branch of Kasturba Gandhi Memorial Trust and as President of various Trade Unions. A very active person indeed!

He was 87 and lived between November 12, 1921 and April 9, 2009.  He used to tell me how frail his health was 'inside', though 'I look okay outwardly'. On the few visits I made towards the end to show my old vintage albums, I had not taken my camera with me even when I had one.  As such, there is no picture of him with me. 

The Mulberry tree died and our friendship culminated with his death.  Little did I know when I went to ask for the mulberry cuttings, that he was such a great person! 

Earliest memories of watching a movie

There are numerous memories, some hazy, some vague, some unusually clear, that I carry from the time when the brain cells had begun to hold impressions.  I tried to make a short list of only the memories related to movies.

My earliest in my memory timeline of watching a film in a theatre dates back to the early 1960s. It was a matinee show.  The theatre was Ganesh Picture House.  The movie was Absent Minded Professor.  [click on the link]. My late uncle who was fond of children, had taken me.  Some scenes from it have clung in my mind.  Fifty years on, my mind's eye can project those scenes much the same way Lee Falk's Comic hero, Mandrake the Magician, could project images [on the wall] from the minds of others using his magical powers!

Before I made a web search on this old movie, let me first make an attempt to briefly describe what I had in memory of those scenes in Absent Minded Professor.  I had seen only once, probably as a four-year old: A flying car, some people playing some ball game where players are jumping like springs and a little black rubber ball that goes bouncing everywhere; there were two cars crashing head on, both their fronts go up together and then come crashing down with a loud thud, throwing clouds of dust from the road.  This scene I used to animate using my toy cars for quite some time!  It was a fun sight!

As I grew up, but still very young, elders used to discuss about this film.  I used to give an ear to their talk.  So I learnt that the movie was about a professor, who was renown for his forgetfulness, yet, a genuis.  He calls one of his wonder-inventions in that story as "Flubber".  There was a game of basketball in which the players are using flubber.  This is all I knew for a long time.

Then, when the internet arrived, I have wanted to see if this is available to view online, by what we now call 'googling'.  Lo and behold!  It was there!  I could not wait!  I started to watch.  That was a fine copy, very clear.  I watched it in full for 100 mintues and drove down memory lane.   It stretched well past midnight and I wonder why Dear Drowsy kept away!  With a great feeling I went to bed having a sense of some great achievement!  Reliving some fond old murky memories from that young age was simply thrilling.  I was now able to compare with my memory those very scenes I actually saw now after a gap of nearly 50 years.

The players with flubber-shoes were unstoppable with their amazing 'slam dunks'. Then there was the professor in his car that goes flying like an aircraft. I did not remember the dog sitting by the professor's side during its flight.  What creativity!  I now wonder how such amazing scenes were filmed 50 years ago and how much trouble it must have been to bring out such magnificent effects!  I also learnt that not for nothing it was one of Walt Disney's most hilarious productions as well! There are some really wonderfully funny sequences which make me think of watching it again!

That car in the movie was a Model T (Ford).  My great grandfather also had a Model T for a few years in the late 1920s.  Here is the operation manual of the same car, just FYI!

Here is a link I found from Walt Disney site itself, about the movie.
During my web search, I discovered that the original model used in the movie is preserved in the wax museum.  See this 2-minute video. 

So much about the movie, now a bit about the famous Ganesh Picture House which screened it and enthralled thousands of people.  It was just a few furlongs down the street where we lived and could be reached within 5 minutes by foot.  It was one of the very few theatres which screened English movies and so had become popular with the English-movie-loving public.  Later at Christ the King Convent [which was adjacent to GPH] where I studied, we had a boy in our class by name Vishwanath, but everyone called him "King Kong".  Probably in our 2nd or 3rd Standard class, I came to know that he was the son of the owner of Ganesh Picture House.  He had probably been nicknamed after "King Kong" which was the name of the film in which the famous wrestler Dara Singh had acted. It was also popular in the early 60s!  Our little King Kong was a daringly naughty fellow too, if you know what I mean and fully deserved that nickname as much as Dara Singh was prefixed with the same name!  But we adored that that theatre was 'his'!

It was not a pleasant sight, many years later to see the theatre building being demolished. As of today, a new venture is coming up.  There have been so many fond memories of great movies thousands of people have watched there.  When I last saw a movie, the ticket rate was one rupee sixty paise.  I had seen a few with friends when it was only 80 paise too.   It must have been much less when my uncle took me there when I did not need a ticket.

Another murky memory is from the film 'Hatari'.  It may be around 1964-65.  My late uncle had taken both me and my little brother along, to Gayatri Talkies for this film which was actually released in 1962.  It was an action movie involving an African Safari.  I remember two scenes where a fast running Rhino is caught by a hunter using lasso from his open jeep that is moving close to it. The Rhino also gores the jeep with its horn. It was a thrilling sequence that has stuck in my memory.  I remember the theatre because I was now a little bit older.  Gayatri Talkies also screened English movies.  Some theatres were content with Kannada or Hindi.  This theatre is still active, though not with English movies due to changing times, but still in the news.  See this write-up (most recent) relating to this historic theatre.

Gayatri Talkies on Chamaraja Double Road

Deccan Herald, November 2011.

Woodlands Theatre near the Clock Tower is another old theatre.  It also screened various fine films.
I remember a particular scene from Sant Gnaneshwar, a  Kannada film, where a poor boy who is spiritually energetic bakes some rotis on his back.  He goes on 'all fours' exposing his back to the hot sun and the roti puffs up like it does on a hot pan!   The rotis were for another poor boy who was very hungry and  had nothing to eat.  Vague memory of the only scene but I clearly remember it was a morning show.  Some years later,  I was taken by my mother and late aunt to watch Arunodaya, also a Kannada movie meant for children as it was featuring some animals and birds. The movie was very nice, but somehow, the suffocation of the theatre hall was too much for me and I was feeling breathless - this word I can say now, but I never knew how to express it then.  Instead, I complained of 'stomach ache' and relented to quit at intermission.  We had gone to the matinee and I remember that we walked back home that evening all the way, past K.R.Circle and Lansdowne Building.  I was very relieved to be out of the theatre, not one bit regretting missing the movie.  They would not believe my seriousness because I was already renown to make these 'stomach ache dramas' when I wanted to skip school [I hated school-going].  But that evening, it was really discomforting.  We could never watch that movie again.  Sound of Music was another English movie I remember vaguely in the same theatre. I think this was the evening show - it ended in the night - it seemed a very very long time in!  I am not too sure if this was the movie in which it required two intermissions because of the length of the film. The movie was filled with soulful songs which I never understood, but one particular scene stands out - two people are singing under a garden gazebo.  It was a movie that everybody spoke about. "Did you watch it?" was a common part of conversation!

It was fun to watch the ushers coming in with battery torches to show late-comers their seats by pointing the beam of light on the empty seat/s.  When we were already seated, it was a nuisance when someone came in the way of the screen!  The smell of cigarette smoke that filled the hall was awful.  The huge fans added more misery.  The darkness inside the hall was not a pleasant sight!! When someone moved in and out, the light from the door/curtain distracted people.  Balcony tickets were slightly higher priced.  During the time when we had entered the theatre hall well ahead of time, lights used to be on and I wondered why the wall on which we see the movie was a curved surface.  When the lights were switched off, everybody went silent as it was a sign that the show would start.  When the movie started , I could not 'notice' that curve on the wall! 

In the olden days, bed bugs was a problem not only in homes but in theatre seats as well. They had coir cushion seats in the pre-foam seat era!  It was heaven to those little blood suckers. We boys wearing shorts used to scratch our thighs by intermission time and kept scratching the areas even after we returned home!  The suckers also used to ride with people's clothes into their homes to infest there too. It was a heck of a problem. I hope theatres have got rid of this pest!

[Image of Bedbug borrowed from the web]

I used to derive pleasure from watching the beam of light passing from the projector lens on to the screen and the dust wafting across the beam adding effect!  I used to wonder about how the beam from such a small window diverged on to a big screen!  

Small booklets were sold in theatres for ten paise.  It contained the lyrics of songs and a gist of the story of the film that was being shown.  My late aunt had a great fancy for collecting these and I have salvaged a few from her collection.

There were also Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy comedy movies that were screened in Mysore, but I cannot remember having seen any in my young age in theatres, but I have some weak memory of watching probably one of Chaplin's, which was shown at CFTRI by its film society.  In fact, my late father had taken me pillion on his bicycle specially for this and I used to sit by the 16 mm projector which he operated there.

I cannot remember huge crowds at theatres for buying tickets.  Queues were short and people walked in leisurely to the ticket-issuing window.   There were four shows per day. Morning show, Matinee, Evening show and Night show. Our normal choices were morning or matinee probably because my Ajji - Grandmother wanted us back home safe before dusk!

 Mysore can boast of theatres dating back to the 1930s. Krishna Talkies near Gandhi Square was perhaps the oldest.  It had become non-functional in my time itself!  The building is still in existence - Kaveripatnam Market.  Picture below.  Opposite/behind this, was my grandfather's famous office on Rave Street.

Lakshmi, Gayatri, Uma, Prabha, Padma, Shantala.... all female Godess names.  They are all names of theatres in Mysore, besides Opera, Olympia, Sri, Prabhudava, Rajkamal, Sangam, Ranjith, Ganesha, Krishna...

Though I do not remember having watched Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai - a hindi movie released in 1960, the song sung by Mukesh "Mera naam Raju..." has embedded in memory.  It was very frequently played on the radio.  On hearing it, my ears would straighten!  My mother had found this out.  I can vividly remember, when this was being aired, I'd open my mouth and accepted spoonfuls of cooked rice-rasam without a fuss, much to the delight of my mother as it saved her some trouble feeding, which usually was a circus!  We can now watch the song sequence here.

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A magazine called 'Sport and Pastime'

The Hindu, started in 1878, was a much sought-after daily newspaper outside Madras also.  From my great grandfather's dairies, I see quite a few interesting paragraphs he has copied from it - in the early 1930s.  So he had access to it in the Mysore area as well, which testifies its wide circulation.

The Sports pages was very popular for its action photographs and crisp articles by renown writers.  Action photographs was The Hindu's forte.  Collecting Cricket pictures was a favourite pastime with many cricket followers and these action photographs added a lot of value to the collections.  Not many newspapers carried action pictures but The Hindu was ahead.

The Hindu is also probably the first to publish an exclusive magazine dedicated to sports. It started "Sport and Pastime" in 1947 under the leadership of S.K.Gurunathan, who was the Sports Editor at The Hindu.  He was a renown sports journalist, a cricket statistician and a player himself in his younger days. Gurunathan passed away in 1966, but the weekly magazine limped for two years after his death before it ceased publication in 1968.  Sports-following public has always been on the rise and the stoppage of this unique and popular magazine disappointed many.

The magazine was unique because it tried to cover varied hobbies and pastimes besides popular sports events.

Photography:

Stamp collecting 

Bridge

Chess

It featured even the film festival in 1965.  Sir Richard Attenborough was here!

It had a centre-spread from time to time - in colour.  Here it has B.S.Chandrashekhar who was a rising star in 1965. I must tell that colour pictures were a great attraction in those days.

Demonstration of cricketing strokes with a series of photographs - here it is Don Bradman's cover drive.  Pictures borrowed by them from Daily Mail, London.  People had no access to films of action in those days but such series photographs helped learners of the game.

Cooch Behar Trophy - which was Schools Cricket, also got coverage in Sport and Pastime.

Sunil Gavaskar was coming to limelight in 1966.  This is from the issue dated January 1.

There was an athlete by name Akhande from Kenya who was studying in Mysore and represented Mysore University in the inter-varsity sports.  He was a star in his own right and his name was on people's tongues in Mysore in the mid 60s which I remember. I have very unclear memory of seeing him at Maharaja's College Grounds where at that time, there was a long jump/high jump pit where he used to practice.  He was a runner and also a footballer.  He was also featured on Sport and Pastime Cover [Nov.1965]!!  

Contents list

"Laugh it off" page full of cartoons.  I liked Sporting Sam the best!  It came in "Sportsweek" also later in the 1970s from Bombay, for which I used to subscribe.

Action photographs were its forte.  They were supported and given value addition with beautiful, informative and meaningful captions:

Tennis action:

Varsities cricket and other sports at that level also got good coverage.  Through this, it gave good encouragement to upcoming players.

These magazines are all not mine!  They were given to me by my good friend and our team captain Kashi.  This lot was among a huge collection of cricket pictures which he handed over to me when he left for the USA many years ago.  Here is the pile of the few issues he gave me.

Came 1978 there was a great surprise waiting for sports fans.  Much to their delight, there was sort of a rebirth for Sport and Pastime.  It was to bring a similar magazine out, larger, like a mini newspaper with a new name "Sportstar".  I have the inaugural issue, Vol.1, Issue 1 for which I waited for, went to Newspaper House in Lansdowne Building and bought on the day of issue. It was thrilling.  I used to buy from the pocket money of Rupees five which my father gave me.  Each issue would cost one rupee and fifty paisa.  By month end, I had to use the small savings in the piggy box!   

I have kept the pen to compare the size of the new format. 

The back cover which they called 'mini cover' also had a picture. Look at young Martina Navratilova there!  Wimbledon '78 had just been finished and Bjorn Borg had won the Men's final (see above cover pic).

Of course the publishers needed no introduction!

True to its promise, action pictures continued to delight readers and fans, not to speak of the quality of articles.  I used to buy mainly for its pictures and articles were secondary.  Collecting pictures [cricket] was a hobby among many prior to the 70s.  Afterwards, this hobby has lost popularity.

It has successfully won over competitions from Sportsweek from Bombay and Sportsworld [which Tiger Pataudi wrote editorials] from Calcutta and is still growing strong.  I have stopped subscribing or reading many years ago due to various reasons.  I have many old issues gathering dust.  It is a tough decision to dispose them off for want of storage space and want of interest to bring them down for a re-look/re-read.  But let Sportstar continue to shine.

A strange coincidence of WTC 9/11

It is already ten years now since that fateful day which came to be referred as “9/11”.  The US has got rid of its mastermind (OBL) recently.  I don't need to decipher.  I would like to share a strange coincidence I came across in relation to this infamous terrorist act which has stuck in my memory.

I was in Chennai for a cricket engagement.  If any old friend lives in the city I visit, I make it a point to meet. My childhood classmate Gopi lives in Chennai and so I took this opportunity to meet, as we have done ever since we renewed contact after a very long gap. It was decided that the best time to meet was over dinner at Gopi’s house itself so that we could indulge in some school-day nostalgia.

I went as scheduled, but Gopi had not arrived home that evening due to some (I must add 'usual' in his case) work pressure. So his son and wife tried their best to keep me occupied with some informal chat. After some time their telephone rang. It was a friend calling to inform Gopi's wife about a tragedy that had stuck in New York and that it was being shown on a certain TV channel, live. It was the deadly act that had brought the massive structures of the WTC down just about an hour ago and news of it was spreading around the world faster than wildfire.  She changed the channel from the remote as she was still speaking to the friend and found it.

Watching screaming people run helter-skelter, collapsed building’s dust flying, rescue teams trying their bit and the upset reporters trying to hide their shock on the screen made a terrible sight that left us shocked as well,despite it happening half way round the earth.

Gopi arrived to see dazed, dull faces glued to the TV as he had also been informed on phone about it.  His wife prepared a simple rice-rasam dinner in a most depressed mood, which was quite understandable. Even the dinner seemed tasteless in such a disturbed state of our minds as we had dinner in terrible mood as the hand to mouth action became perfunctory.  The expected nostalgia did not take place as the NY disaster buried all else.

Now the coincidence. Before Gopi arrived, his little son was telling me that he was asked in his class to draw something that came to their minds as that particular class was free.   He had drawn a picture of the twin towers, because Gopi and family had only recently toured and visited the huge WTC and the young fellow was impressed by its massiveness. In fact, he was showing that drawing to me while we were all watching repeat telecasts of the two giants crumbling to dust.  He was shocked too.  I left, in a strange mood and joined my team at the place of stay only to be greeted by the same news.

The site is now called Ground Zero and is being reconstructed.

[all images web grabs]

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This link will show about some of the weird coincidences about the numbers in that date which also went into wide e-mail circulation afterwards.  

Click here

Click here to see how someone discovered and interpreted to coincide with that event by folding some US Banknotes.

9/11 has since been chosen as 'Patriot Day'. 

Click here.

56 photos of the terrible tragedy.  

Click here.

Salvaging steel from the debris of the WTC, a navy ship has been built.

Click here to read some information on this.  And go here to see it was true and also more pictures of it!

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Unfortunately, the boy somehow did not preserve that drawing.  Came to know of it when I asked him if he has it to show it here in this post.

Let peace prevail!