India's OnlyEver Hollywood Hero

A Blog begun years ago as a stroll on the Funny Side of Serious Street, highlighting India's problems. Revived now by adding memories of old Bombay, including excerpts from Dreams of One Country.

India's OnlyEver Hollywood Hero

Does anyone remember Sabu?

He's India's only-ever Hollywood hero.

The boy star of several British and Hollywood movie hits, his is an amazing story. Sabu was born in 1924 and lost his father when he was 9. He was discovered by a British documentary producer who was shooting around Mysore. He watched the boy mahout playing with the Maharajah's elephants. The jumbos would draw water into their trunks and spray it over Sabu. The boy would run up the elephant's trunk and his friend would lift the trunk to help him reach its back. The jumbos and the boy were as chummy as school-friends. And so, Sabu's first movie was The Elephant Boy (1937). He starred in other London productions. Then he went off to Hollywood, where he settled down. All his movies were the teenage adventure type, some linked to Rudyard Kipling's stories set in India. Sabu married Marilyn Cooper, an actress. They had two children, Paul and Jasmine. (His son Paul Sabu started a band and went on to become a popular American vocalist.)
In 1944 Sabu joined the US Army's Air Force and fought in World War II as a turret gunner in American bombers targeting Germany. Among the honours he received for his wartime service were a Distinguished Flying Cross.
His movies include The Drum (1938), Thief of Baghdad (1940), Jungle Book (1944), Black Narcissus (1947) with Jean Simmons and Walt Disney's A Tiger Walks (1963).
He died at the age of 39 - of a heart attack. On Hollywood's famous Walk of Fame on Sunset Boulevard, Sabu has his palm imprint (made on wet cement) on the pavement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, along with those of other Hollywood notables. 

Sabu's rise as an unlettered boy from a corner of India and his achievements in a short span of time are as incredible as any movie story! And yet, how many people in India remember him? That's life!

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Tail-Lights:

New India Theme

A Revolutionary Theme, the people's inspired March to an Ek Desh India, lights up Dreams of One Country by Jagjit (and John Daniel). You can easily check it out on Amazon.com. If a transforming India theme appeals to you, venture to download the novel on any device - I-phone, pad or computer.

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When SizzlingGold Rained on Bombay

A Blog begun years ago as a stroll on the Funny Side of Serious Street, highlighting India's problems. Revived now by adding memories of old Bombay, including excerpts from Dreams of One Country.
 

When SizzlingGold Rained on Bombay

(Excerpt 8: Memories of old Bombay from Chapter 3 of Dreams of One Country)

A time when Colaba, Clare Road and Nagpada (home also to Ashkenazi Jews) had large Anglo  populations. To Let signs everywhere amid fears of a Japanese invasion. Nehru speaking to a spellbound multitude at Napoo Gardens. A frail, sparrow-faced saint walking miles, pleading for communal harmony. The naval ratings revolt, which the Brits called a mutiny. Incandescent sugarcanes shooting into the daytime skies and bullion bars hurtling into homes, when the Fort Stikine (an ammunition ship with gold in its hold) exploded in Bombay harbour. Splendid parades and soldiers street-dancing on VE Day. A restaurant at Ballard Pier in ’46; a British troopship ready to sail, and the sad-frantic girls kissing and weeping…certain the promises of their English boyfriends were meant to be broken. And seeing off Anglo emigrants on Cunard and P and O liners at Mole Harbour. And more. Much more...

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1. India Illuminiscopic:
Check out Dreams of One Country on Amazon.com. If the novel's Revolutionary Theme - the March to a New Ek Desh India - appeals to you, you can download it on any device: I phones, pads or computers. In the 21st Century story youth lead India's people to unite as Ek Desh (One Country), to strive together and build an enlightened and truly modern nation

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A True Bombay Grandma's Tale

A Blog begun years ago as a stroll on the Funny Side of Serious Street, highlighting India's problems. Revived now, adding memories of old Bombay - including excerpts from Dreams of One Country.

 A True Bombay Grandma's Tale

This true story of fifty years ago reflects on unchanging attitudes in India.

My father passed away when I was 27. An early huge hit in my life. He had given us, his children, so much love. Worse, he died from hygiene negligence in a public hospital. It wasn't a major operation. The surgeon - Arthur DeSa, the most reputed in Bombay then - did a good job. But the infection introduced by an unsterile spinal anaesthesia paralyzed my father and ended his life after two tortured years.

We were living in my father's government quarters and were told to vacate the house. Getting a flat on rent in Bombay was difficult.those days. We had to buy a flat where we could pay for it in instalments over several years. A girl classmate of ours in medical college (my wife's close friend) said her cousin was building flats for sale near Juhu beach. The girl was from a well-educated family and knew very little about her builder cousin. But she asked him to help us. He agreed. All the money I had was the 14,000/- left of my father's provident fund after deducting the loans my dad had taken. The builder wanted an initial 11,000/- in cash. I said I would give him a cheque. He said that without the initial cash payment the deal could not go through. So I drew the money out of the 14 I had in the bank. My wife and I went to his house in Juhu. Seated in the drawing-room with the builder was his mother, a white-haired lady in her eighties. Her young grandchildren were playing around. The builder asked me to give the money to his mother. She counted the notes, nodded, called a servant and spoke to him. Then the servant dragged a huge metal trunk into the drawing-room - one at least as big as the trunks you see on railway platforms, which belong to jawans (soldiers) on the way to a new posting. From her waist the old lady gave the servant a bunch of keys. The servant opened 4 padlocks on the trunk and lifted the lid. The trunk was packed to the brim with 100/- notes. I assumed the old lady had a knee or other problem that made her immobile. And that was why the trunk was dragged out into the drawing room. The lady dumped our notes in the trunk. It was locked up again. The key-bunch returned to grandma's waist. The servant dragged the trunk out. Then the old lady got up and walked away. She had none of the physical disabilities I had imagined.
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Obviously, showtime was over. I realized the drama enacted by her and son was merely to show-off their trunk-load of 'black' wealth. At that age she still craved to show-off. Another example, indicating that this utterly time-wasting, meaningless pastime is nothing new in India. Though, today, there's more opportunity.

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Tail Lights

1. India Illuminiscopic:
Check out Dreams of One Country on Amazon.com. If the novel's Revolutionary Theme - the March to a New Ek Desh India - appeals to you, you can download it on any device: I phones, pads or computers. In the 21st Century story youth lead India's people to unite as Ek Desh (One Country), to strive together and build an enlightened and truly modern nation
2. Man's Toughest Job!  (from Tipsy Tweetlines)
 Look at history, past and present. Obviously, the toughest job in the world for man is to add an 'e' to human.

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And Their SuperHappy Parents!

A Blog begun years ago as a stroll on the Funny Side of Serious Street, highlighting India's problems. Revived now by adding memories of old Bombay, including excerpts from Dreams of One Country. 

And Their Super-Happy Parents! 

And no one is happier with the genius entrepreneurs who develop SuperTots than the parents of those kids - for this newly-discovered chance to show-off to each other and the neighourhood. An utterly meaningless and time-wasting pursuit. For anyone in India who can afford it showing-off is one of the hottest of pleasures. They ignore the squalor around, the many whose lives are crushed by suffering and injustice. Is this the way India can hope to become a developed nation? Compare this India to Japan. The Japanese learnt a bitter lesson from their folly in World War II and set out to reconstruct their country. They aimed at lifting the quality of life of all their citizens. And there was no singing self-praise by either the people or leaders. No pompous pronouncements on what great things Japan would do. Twenty years later the world praised Japan’s achievements. 
India Cinemascopic: My novel Dreams of One Country - for download on I-phone, pad or computer from Amazon.com - is a panoramic story of young dreamsand ideas inspiring India's people to share and care for each other and build a truly modern nation.

Globalizing India's SuperKids!

A Blog begun years ago as a stroll on the Funny Side of Serious Street, highlighting India's problems. Revived now by adding memories of old Bombay, including excerpts from Dreams of One Country. 

 Globalizing India's SuperKids!

Here's another example of the kind of enterprise globalization is inspiring in India. Capitalizing on Indians with money, brilliant entrepreneurs have opened nurseries for under-school tots that offer to develop in the little ones more senses than the 5 all normal humans possess - in short, to turn them into SuperKids or geniuses. High fees ensure no undeserving kids of low income parents get in. And the stage is set for high dramatics.

Take one such nursery of geniuses. A showing-off competition begins each morning with big cars (Chevvies, Toyotas, Skodas -you name them) arriving at the gates, each carrying a tiny tot to school. (Most of the tots live within a ten-minute walk from the school.) Some are accompanied by one parent. Where both parents are busy making money, the tot is accompanied by a chauffeur and a retinue of attendants. Some cars stay around through the day - clearly indicating the parents have so many cars that one has been exclusively set aside for their tiny tot. The charade is repeated at school closing time.
Surely, one extra sense those kids are likely to acquire early is their parents' craving to show-off.
 
Can such utterly fruitless and time-wasting pursuits take India far on the road to development? Do such parents ever think of or desire to help any of the country's many half-starved kids?

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Tail Lights

1. India Illuminiscopic:
Check out Dreams of One Country on Amazon.com. If the novel's Revolutionary Theme - the March to a New Ek Desh India - appeals to you, you can download it on any device: I phones, pads or computers. In the 21st Century story youth lead India's people to unite as Ek Desh (One Country), to strive together and build an enlightened and truly modern nation
2. Can Happy Families Afford to Shut up?
Nothing is easier in the world than to jump to conclusions, misunderstand and add to misunderstandings. The preventive treatment is a family policy to bring up issues openly - if there is doubt, confusion or a suspicion of motive or intention. An unknown proverb: In families initial annoyance is better than lifetime rifts.

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Jukebox Junkie in old Bombay

A Blog begun years ago as a stroll on the Funny Side of Serious Street, highlighting India's problems. Revived by adding memories of old Bombay, including excerpts from Dreams of One Country.

 Jukebox Junkie In Old Bombay

I was in college when the first jukebox arrived in Bombay. Within months every Irani restaurant in town - from VT Station to Flora Fountain to Museum to Colaba - including the Empire, Bastani's and Leopold's - had a jukebox. In those days there were far more Irani restaurants in the city than south Indian or Udupis. People went there specially for tea, cakes, pastries, samosas and a technicolor cold drink called falooda  Anyway, I became a confirmed jukebox fan. Or a juke junkie? (I did not even spare lunch money, making up for that at home. At dinner.) Every day from college I headed out to town for the music. The jukeboxes were showpieces with flowing coloured lights. You put in a 4-anna bit and pressed the button against the song you wanted in a side-list. A mechanical arm moved the record on to the turntable. Then stereophonic sound filled the restaurant. Over mutton samosas and tea, the music enthralled me. My favourite Hindi singer was and still is Mukesh. But the piece of music on which I lavished my lunch money was Billy Vaughn's orchestra.playing Sail Along Silvery Moon.
Soon we were heading into the Rock-n-Roll era beginning with Bill Haley and the Comets. And everyone wanted to hear the new big beat music. Songs from the movie Rock Around the Clock - the story of how Rock began with Bill Haley - became chartbusters. Among the movie's songs I still remember the Platters crooning The Great Pretender.

Times changed. Not only did the fancy jukeboxes disappear, but - in an increasingly narrow-minded world - so did old Bombay's Irani restaurants.

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Tail-Lights

1. India Cinemascopic
My novel Dreams of One Country - for download on I-phone, pad or computer from Amazon.com - is a moving panorama of young dreams and ideas inspiring India's people to come together as Ek Desh (One Country) and build a truly modern nation.
2. Can Happy Families Afford to Shut up?
Nothing is easier in the world than to jump to conclusions, misunderstand and add to misunderstandings. The preventive treatment is a family policy to bring up issues openly - if there is doubt, confusion or a suspicion of motive or intention. An unknown proverb: In families initial annoyance is better than lifetime rifts.

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Busted BusStop Comedy

A Blog begun years ago as a stroll on the Funny Side of Serious Street, highlighting India's problems. Revived by adding memories of old Bombay, including excerpts from Dreams of One Country.

BUSTED BUS-STOP COMEDY

Scene: A solid steel bus-stop with a steel bench. For years it has sheltered people from sun and rain on a glass-and-glitter commercial street that was wholly residential 15 years ago. Cracked pavements and road. Leaking water mains flowing by. Litter everywhere.

Day One of Drama: The bus-stop disappears leaving 4 jagged metal stumps that can injure the unwary.

Day Two: A new aluminium bus-stop appears at the same place. Around it big banners proclaim how much good the local elected politician has done for the people - including, building new bus-stops.

Day Seven: The new bus-stop disappears, leaving 4 more jagged metal stumps. But over and around the place a shamiana has been put up. Obviously, an indication that a political rally would take place there.

Day Eight: A bus-load of gun-wielding reserve policemen are camped around the shelter-less bus-stop. Obviously, the rally had ended in a fight between rival political parties. Broken pavement stones are scattered all around.

Note: Neither the cost of breaking or building a bus-stop would come of out any politician's pocket. It would come out of public funds. This true story of vanishing bus-stops is a tiny part of the national comedy - or, rather, tragicomedy - of fooling the people that has gone on too long.

Question: Can this kind of politicians help India develop into a country like Denmark, Singapore or the US?    

Tail Lights:


1. India Cinemascopic
My novel Dreams of One Country - for download on I-phone, pad or computer from Amazon.com - is a moving panorama of young dreams and ideas inspiring India's people to come together as Ek Desh (One Country) and build a truly modern nation.

2. Finding True Happiness: Does it mean freedom from worries? In life that's virtually impossible. Making more and more money? Or being able to show-off, particularly to neighbours? Real happiness is in sharing moments of contentment with another human. We tend to forget happiness is also the satisfaction at bringing some happiness to others and, equally important, of not being the cause of unhappiness to anyone else.

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