THERE IS A TIDE IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN





















“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood,
leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound
in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat.
And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

- William Shakespeare

Whenever someone refers him as a ‘Super Star’, Amitabh Bachchan is very quick to brush that tag aside. “I am not a ‘Super Star’,” he quips, “I never was one… and never will be one.”

The typical Amitabh Bachchan modesty?

Well, when I was a teenager, we knew who the so-called ‘Super Start’ was… It was Rajesh Khanna; and Amitabh Bachchan was a total misfit – nowhere close to the frenzy, particularly from the female folk. Nothing of that kind would ever repeat despite all the super-glamorous world we live in now…

Amitabh Bachchan went up the hard and long way and dislodged the King of Romance, the Super Star, Rajesh Khanna. But, Amitabh was aware what kind of position that was… what kind of fame and name. So, whenever someone refers to him as a ‘Super Star’, Amitabh gets annoyed and asserts, “I am just an actor who looks for work every morning.”

I, often, tell about Rajesh Khanna’s stupendous super-stardom to today’s’ teenagers in our P.D. sessions. For centuries, the whole idea of Success has been glamorized and measured in terms of popularity, fame, money and power. The focus, always, has been on the ‘outside’ – the glamorous side… The bigger the better, the higher the better… the more the better. That’s why that desperation for more ‘Likes’, ‘Views’, ‘Hits’, ‘Shares’ and visibility on social media. Yes, the illusion of ‘the more the better’!

But, how much more is really ‘More’?

Did the Super Stardom help Rajesh Khanna during the last years of his life? Would you call such life a ‘successful life’?  Would you opt for one such?

Perhaps, no one has articulated the futility of such success better than Rajesh Khanna himself. He has done that, poetically, at the fag end of his life when the tinsel world was bestowing upon him ‘The Life-time  Awards’:
izzate shohrate ulfate sab kuch dunia mein rahta nahi
aaj mein hun yahan, kal koi aur tha

izzate shohrate ulfate sab kuch dunia mein rahta nahi
aaj mein hun yahan,kal koi aur tha
vo bhi ek daur tha, ye bhi ek daur hai.



Yes, there ‘is’ a tide in our affairs… and we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures!

GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Avinash Mantri
Video: YouTube



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or painful that
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How does it matter
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...