The Biggest B of the Century

Success has never been a slave of another person like it has been for this one man – Amitabh Bachchan.I have been a diehard fan of this 6 feet 2 inches tall man ever since I was five years of age. I worshipped him like a god. My parents were also fans of this charismatic man.

If on a Friday his movie released my mother would insist father to book the tickets in advance for Sunday matinee, lest there was every chance of us to not even manage tickets in black at the last ,moment as the rush would be profound. Everything related to Amitabh appealed to me.I would often insist my parents to buy me his postcards(worth 50 paise those days)……. … would claim Iam Amitabh myself …………. Would try and buy shirts or T shirts having similar shades as worn by Amitabh in his last movie ( Could not get his costumes ..size mattered)…..would wait to hear a song on the radio which was picturized on my beloved demi god…..would run upstairs to our landlord’s house to watch the Wednesday Chitrahaar to catch a glimpse of my hero expecting his songs to be played ….I was really crazy …………..So much so that my parents found a new means to make me have the vegetables I hated having …… My dad deliberately declared that pumpkin was the favourite vegetable of Amitabh and I would innocently start consuming it though I hated it the most …….. I was given to believe that Amitabh was strong and tall just because he had pumpkins ……. I realize these were mere stories as I am only 5’9 and several inches shorter than this maestro …………..

My Amitabh- Bhakti was profound ,at least among our known people, that they even to this day call me Amitabh ….(I feel very embaressed when I see people turning around to see who this new Amitabh is and contempt fully turn around their heads…….).Each time he cried in his movies I wept,each time he bashed the goons I would wait to get my turn and pray my strength also gets transferred to my hero so that he could give stronger blows to his opponent……….

Not many are aware of the fact that a series of comics were released in the mid eighties to encash the fame of this hero.Diamond Comics had launched “ Supremo”.Gulzar was supposedly the Script Consultant of the series.However the series of Supremo was short lived and did not run for a long time. The attire of Supremo was unconventional.Unlike Superman couture of undies-over-tights Supremo has a piece of brown cloth draped coyly around his waist, held there by a hip-holster. What is thrilling though is the fact that everywhere Amitabh’s face is drawn in these frozen, movie-poster kind of expressions, as if it was copied from various photos and stills. Very sweetly, the issue also has a letter from Amitabh to the kids thanking them for their support during his illness.

I dedicate this post to my hero whom I worship even to this date.I have managed to get some rare collections of his photos which I would like to share with all of you ……

RIGHT TO SELF DEFENCE

A few days back someone narrated to me about an incident in New Zealand where an Indian was stolen off his belongings at knife point. He even declared Indians were easy prey for thefts as they are always very timid and chicken- hearted. On the contrary Australians or even the Chinese are very brave and always dared to challenge a thief who tried assaulting him.

This made me think for a really long while.Infact I am still thinking ………….We always proudly announce the bravery of our ancestors who valiantly fought battles against the princes or empires which tried to enslave them. The conceited attitude of our silver screen Indian hero who singlehandedly managed to uproot the Pakistani forces in movie Gadar showed how much rebellious we can be. Yet in reality we common Indians are actually cowards not ready to brave the challenge of an opponent.Perhaps this has something to do with the mental set up where one feels he or she is weaker than the other person whom he is confronting.

However our epics provide historical evidence to our warfare skills and also mention about the most devastating weapons used during those days.Certain weapons such as the Brahmastra were as strong as the Nuclear Weapons which have only been invented by Americans in the last decade.While a group of scholars may disgree to what I just said there is enough evidence to show that the epic Mahabharat and Ramayan were only a part of our history and not just a story out of someone’s pregnant mind.

More importantly India was traditionally rich in "martial arts" which includes dhanurveda , literally the "science of archery", śastravidyā , literally "knowledge of the sword".The Vishnu Purana text describes dhanurveda as one of the traditional eighteen branches of "applied knowledge" or upaveda..The historical form of wrestling is called mallayuddha in the north and malyutham in the south.

In contemporary India, major martial arts styles practiced are Kalaripayattu in Kerala, Southern India (an umbrella term for diverse armed and unarmed styles), and Pehlwani wrestling in Northern India. Notable regional styles include thang-ta from Manipur and gatka from the Punjab region.

I have myself undergone some training in certain forms of self defence and feel every Indian should undergo a basic training in some form of martial art to bolster his self-confidence. The education of today only trains ones mind for the virtual world but not for the actual world where any form of threat may be encountered by an individual.Moreover gyms promote body building but cannot build the mind.

Verma Kalai and Kalaripyuttu have specifically impressed upon me. Varma ati or Marma ati is a form of martial art which involves martial art based on attacking sensitive pressure points of the human body. On the other hand Kalarippayattu is one of the oldest fighting systems in existence, it is still practiced in Kerala and contiguous parts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as well as northeastern Sri Lanka and among the Malayalee community of Malaysia. This martial art was practiced primarily by the martial castes like Nairs of Kerala.

Kalaripayuttu includes strikes, kicks, grappling, preset forms, weaponry and healing methods. Believed to have been introduced by Lord Parasurama who is said to have retrieved Kerala from the sea, this martial art was taken across to China by a South Indian Buddhist monk, Bodhi Dharma who incidentally, invented Zen Buddhism.Hence Kung Fu and other forms of Chinese martial arts have their origin in Kalaripayuttu.

Inspite of being the master of all martial arts at one time, today India can hardly boast of any Martial Art School promoting Kalaripayattu or Verma Kalai.Apparently, we may occassionally spot a Karate or Kung Fu training school in city locations however.

It is important to inculcate in all citizens of HINDUSTHAN the need to learn self defense techniques.The Government should ideally take a few steps to promote the Indian Martial Arts.Why do we need to adopt Chinese Martial Arts when we have better and more fierce self defense arts at our own backyard. More importantly the Government should take steps to include martial arts a compulsory subject in every education institute a child goes to.Every citizen should have the RIGHT TO BE BRAVE ....RIGHT TO SELF DEFEND just like the RIGHT TO SPEECH……………….

- DeepS

I , ME & MYSELF

Introducing myself reminds me about my early school days at Paul's when our Anglo teacher would ask us to write an essay about "Myself".All of us would be confused scribbling our names and counting on the people whom we stay with and then borrowing ideas from the person sitting next to us.

Today Iam starting this blog after someone very close persuaded me to start it.I must say this blog is a dedication to the bond of friendship I share with the master specialist of method madness.

I , Me , Myself .......... DeepS.... naam tho suna nahin hoga .... Afterall I am no star ...no super human ..... no... Kriish .... no Dark Knight ......Just a simple Keralite born in Kolkata, travelling all over the world and has good and evil in him like any other common man.YET IAM DIFFERENT !!

As the blog matures I am sure you will realize that if every child is special(reference to Taare Zameen Par) ..... then every child grows up to be special ........... :)

The good the bad the ugly ... all in I , ME and MYSELF is all set to start from today............................................................................................................................