Bollywood

  Life is all about the right things happening at the right time. To say that politics is not a part of sports is not being realistic. When I run, I am more than a runner. I am a diplomat, an ambassador for my country.
That is what I have believed ever since that one post card I wrote changed the entire course and The air and the earth interpenetrated in the warm gusts of spring; the soil was full of sunlight, and the sunlight full of red dust. The air one breathed was saturated with earthy smells, and the grass under foot had a reflection of the blue sky in it.
direction of my life. Some days ago, I found a distinguished sister-believer in what I believed in, What is patience but an equanimity which enables you to rise superior to the trials of life.
the singer whose humility more than her amazing talent is one of her strongest point, Kavita Once again your mind explodes with a searing pain. A floodgate of memories bursts wide. Yet it is her face that keeps haunting you. Always her face. Who is she? Then things begin to crystallize. You remember your funeral. Begging and pleading for someone to release you from the darkness. You’re not dead. You can’t be. Then you feel her presence. Warm, caring, soothing. But somewhere deep inside she feels empty now. She has no reason. No meaning. No soul. But your soul lives. While her’s is dying.
Krishnamurthy. She was thinking a day after receiving her major award within a very short time, the . . . knowledge emerges in (humans). Opposed to knowledge is the spirit. The spirit is formless and is incomprehensible to mundane thoughts. . . . Knowledge is active, mischievous, and intelligent. It changes constantly. Spirit, on the other hand, is the master of humankind. Its origin is in wu-chi. . . . It is never born and it never dies. The spirit tends toward purity and stillness. Knowledge tends toward action and disturbs the mind so that it cannot be still. . . . Recognize the difference between the human mind and the mind of Tao. Do not mistake the human mind for the mind of Tao, and knowledge for the spirit.
Samrat Vikramaditya Award from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. She had earlier received the Lata What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it.
Mangeshkar (the singer she reveres as her icon) Award from the Madhya Pradesh Government and a Every new adjustment is a crisis in self esteem . . .
little before that she was conferred the Padma Shri by the Government of India which she was very The secret of seeing is to sail on solar wind. Hone and spread your spirit, till you yourself are a sail, whetted, translucent, broadside to the merest puff.
honoured and happy to have received at the hands of “a great human being” like President A.P.J. None knew thee but to love thee.
Kalam. She said it was a long journey because of the right things happenings at the right time or I don’t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.
nothing happening would have happened for a girl who was a nobody in Bangalore. The string of major If you have built castles in the air your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.
awards besides the many other awards she has received inspired her to go back in life and re-live The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.
the life of Kavita Krishnamurthy, one of the all-time greats of our times… She said it was an It is only after an unknown number of unrecorded labors, after a host of noble hearts have succumbed in discouragement, convinced that their cause is lost; it is only then that the cause triumphs.
aunt, Ms. Pratima Bhattacharya who first recognized her talent and brought her to Bombay, the city Tell us, pray, what devil This melancholy is, which can transform Men into monsters.
which is always kind to true talent. She got her admitted to St. Xavier’s College where she found The fastest way to a man’s heart is through his chest.
all the impetus and the inspiration to make a name as a singer on the campus. Her popularity spread Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.
and soon big names like Ameen Sayani, C. Ramchandra, Hemant Kumar and Manna Dey, all of them living The teacher’s task is not to implant facts but to place the subject to be learned in front of the learner and, through sympathy,emotion, imagination and patience, to awaken in the learner the restless drive for answers and insights which enlarge the personal life and give it meaning.
legend discovered all that untapped talent in her. She sang for them, she sang with them, she was a Sometimes it seems like we’re all living in some kind of prison, and the crime is how much we all hate ourselves. It’s good to get really dressed up once in a while and admit the truth — that when you really look closely, people are so strange and so complicated that they’re actually beautiful. Possibly even me.
part of their troupe which performed not only in India but in different parts of the world. The But whether on the scaffold high Or in the battle’s van, The fittest place where man can die Is where he dies for man!
right things were happening. She was reaching places. Then Mrs. Jaya Chakravarthy, the mother of Ah! my dear Watson, there we come into those realms of conjecture, where the most logical mind may be at fault. Sherlock Holmes speaking with Dr. Watson.
Hema Malini, who was known her encouraging young talent in all periods introduced her to music Justice is the firm and continuous desire to render to everyone that which is his due.
director Laxmikant and Pyarelal and that was actually the beginning of a grand new beginning for In a letter to a friend the thought is often unimportant, and the feeling, if it be only a desire to entertain him, every thing.
her. “LP” first took her on as a dubbing artists but the wonders in her voice had to lead them As evening approached, I came down from the heights of the island, and I liked then to go and sit on the shingle in some secluded spot by the lake; there the noise of the waves and the movement of the water, taking hold of my senses and driving all other agitation from my soul, would plunge me into delicious reverie in which night often stole upon me unawares.
to give her a break as an independent singer and that is what they did when she sang her first solo I went before the Lord and in essence said, I’m not neutral and you can do with me what you want. If you need my vote, it’s there. I don’t care what you do with me, and you don’t have to take anything from me because I will give it to you — everything, all I own, all I am.
song in “Maang Bharo Sajna” and that was twenty-eight years ago…And during these Some people are so fond of ill-luck that they run half-way to meet it.
twenty-eight years Kavita has emerged as one long, endless and sweet “kavita” (poem) of song. People that make puns are like wanton boys that put coppers on the railroad tracks.
She has sung under the batons of all the master music director, for all kinds of films, big and Giving makes living more loving.
small, in all the major languages of the country, sung a variety of songs from the most poetic and What is a committee? A group of the unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.
divine to the most popular, from the rich in tradition to the most trivial and what is called My ambition is to do a good job. I never plan anything.
modern, sung with every other singer, male and female, sung for all the major actresses, for the You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong no matter who does it or says it.
connoisseurs of music to the common man who craved to listen to her voice, from presidents, prime Few men have the natural strength to honour a friend’s success without envy.
ministers, kings and queens, down to the masses who throng musical shows all over the world, sung in If we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at the hazard of their lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves the domination of the world.
Christian Churches and Hindu Temples at all their major festivals, sung the praises of God and about O’ thinkest thou we shall ever meet again? I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve For sweet discourses in our times to come.
love and the feelings of the common man, she has given her gift to sing as a precious gift to There is no gathering the rose without being pricked by the thorns.
million. Kavita considered God (Eeshwar) to be her greatest guide and among humans she strongly Our deeds follow us, and what we have been makes us what we are.
feels she would be no one or a nomad singing in the desert. What the support of great human being Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid is coming. The loveliest fairy in the world; and her name is Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby.
who were also great professional did for her to help her and inspire her to reach where she has is Deny yourself! You must deny yourself! That is the song that never ends.
something she can never forget because they were the right guides who led her along the ray all the When you cease to make a contribution you begin to die.
time. Every song she has sung has been close to her heart but the songs she sang in films like Do you not know I am a woman? when I think, I must speak.
“Karma”, “Saudagar”, “Roop Ki Raani Choron Ka Raaja”, “Mr. India”, “Hum Dil De It is no of so much consequence what you say, as how you say it. Memorable sentences are memorable on account of some single irradiating word.
Chuke Sanam” “1942-A Love Story” and “Devdas” will always stand out. They gave her all Only in dreams of spring Shall I ever see again The flowering of my cherry trees.
the opportunities to prove her versatility. They made her more popular and successful. It was the That is the best government which desires to make the people happy, and knows how to make them happy.
songs from these films which were responsible for all the awards which she has won, awards which It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man’s insecurity before himself and before nature.
have given her a high but also made her more humble. She has never asked for more than what she Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.
deserves, but if there is one award she is waiting for and which is eluding her for years it is the Only God can make a tree, but I’m in charge of seeds and weeds!
National Award. And to think of it, I always had this feeling that she had already won the award There is certainly no absolute standard of beauty. That precisely is what makes its pursuit so interesting.
more than once. What are all the learned men and women who judge a singer’s talent at the National Faith is a most precious commodity, without which we should be very badly off.
Awards listening to or doing about? A case of sheer injustice. Kavita says the singer in her has Man maintains his balance, poise, and sense of security only as he is moving forward.
taken new flights and reached new heights after she married the internationally known violinist, Dr. As individuals find crime to be a dead-end street, so communities and nations are subject to the same psychology. The moral side of public opinion is traditionally lazy, but there is an indefinable point at which it can be and is aroused.
L. Jairam. He has inspired her to discover new dimensions to her talent. She is now doing the kind When High and Mighty people want to make us believe that they possess some good quality which they in fact do not have, it is dangerous to show that you doubt them; because, by removing their hope of deceiving the world, you also remove their desire to perform the good acts that might have arisen from their very pretensions.
of work she can never imagine she would do one day. She with her husband has had the privilege of “Well, here at last, dear friends, on the shores of the Sea comes the end of our fellowship in Middle-earth. Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep;for not all tears are an evil.”
being a part of major music concerts in far away places like China and Russia and she will be in The streets are safe in Philadelphia. It’s only the people who make them unsafe.
Poland soon. She is on another journey but her art is still with Hindi films which have made her Everywhere water is a thing of beauty gleaming in the dewdrop, singing in the summer rain.
what she is. Her latest ambition is to cut an ambitious and meaningful music album with someone like Allegedly his last words: What we know is not much. What we do not know is immense.
Gulzar or Javed Akhtar writing the songs. She hopes her ambition will be fulfilled soon. Kavita is It’s not when you realize that nothing can help you — religion, pride, anything — it’s when you realize that you don’t need any aid.
unhappy with the way Hindi film music have been treated and been reduce to these days. There is more When people yearn with all their hearts For just one treasure far away; They close their eyes to countless joys That crowd around them every day.
importance being paid to technological sounds and effects than simplicity and that soothing feeling Mathematics has beauties of its own — a symmetry and proportion in its results, a lack of superfluity, an exact adaptation of means to ends, which is exceedingly remarkable and to be found only in the works of the greatest beauty. When this subject is properly . . . presented, the mental emotion should be that of enjoyment of beauty, not that of repulsion from the ugly and the unpleasant.
which touches the heart. There are item songs more than genuine songs. Songs, she says have been Such partings break the heart they fondly hope to heal.
reduced to consumer products to be sold in the market and not as art specially created by God. The I measure every Grief I meet With narrow, probing Eyes — I wonder if It weighs like Mine — Or has an Easier size.
lyrics too are catering to what is called pop and the pedestrian. Kavita has been one singer who has I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. . . . To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.
paid the greatest importance to the quality of lyrics in the songs she has sung in any language. It A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.
saddens her to see that but for Gulzar, Javed Akhtar and a poet called Nusrat Badr, there are no The world of biology is full of miracles, but nothing I have seen is as miraculous as the metamorphosis of the monarch caterpillar. Her brain is a speck of neural tissue a few millimeters long, about a million times smaller than a human brain. With this almost microscopic clump of nerve cells she knows how to manage her new legs and wings, to walk and to fly, to find her way by some unknown means of navigation over thousands of miles from Massachusetts to Mexico. How are her behavior patterns programmed first into the genes of the caterpillar and then translated into the neural pathways of the butterfly? These are mysteries that biologists are far from understanding. The monarch is living proof that nature’s imagination is richer than our own.
lyricist worth the words or the paper they right on. She believes that music cannot reach to any There comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
high standards if the words don’t try to make at least some sense. She wonders if we will have song I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.
writer like we had once upon a time. Kavita is also worried about the new crop of singers who have Nothing is as embarrassing as watching your boss do something you assured him couldn’t be done.
come in like one big crowd. She says they are making the big mistake of making the best use of their If America wants to make “made in America” a symbol of excellence and worth. They have to make everything of high quality, otherwise the best.
new found popularity and are singing any and every song without realizing that quantity has always Caught between a rock and a hard place.
killed quality. She says they will burn themselves out within no time and another group will take Lady of silences Calm and distressed Torn and most whole Rose of memory Rose of forgetfulness Exhausted and life-giving Worried reposeful The single Rose Is now the Garden Where all loves end Terminate torment Of love unsatisfied The greater torment Of love satisfied End of the endless Journey to no end Conclusion of all that Is inconclusible Speech without word and Word of no speech Grace to the Mother For the Garden Where all love ends.
over. Kavita is modest enough to say that she is not worried about being known as an immortal The worldly fountain does not breed spiritual depth.
singer. She will be happy if she is able to make her life now worth its while by making efforts to Someday I want to be rich. Some people get so rich they lose all respect for humanity. That’s how rich I want to be.
sing better and do her own bit to bring glory and honour to music. She says the people should never If I were to say, “God, why me?” about the bad things, then I should have said, “God, why me?” about the good things that happened in my life.
be blamed for the falling standards of music because they have always proved that they take what you Live dangerously and you live right.
give them. Kavita is fully satisfied with all that life has offered her. But what if destiny had Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.
decided to change its decision? What would she be if not a singer? “A veterinarian”, she Of all lies, art is the least untrue.
exclaims. She loves dogs of all pedigrees. She surprises me when she tells me she once had a dog We should strive to develop within ourselves the traits of character of the Savior.
called Pingo who literally joined her every time she sang and hated it when he was asked to stop A people that has licked a more formidable enemy than Germany or Japan, primitive North America . . . a country whose national motto has been “root, hog, or die.”
singing or leave the room. This is just one of the strange things to happen in Kavita’s life. I am There is a lot more to this life than just the struggle to make money.
sure there will be many more things to happen at the right time and the right place. No soul can be forever banned, Eternally bereft, Whoever falls from God’s right hand Is caught into his left.
 

Original post by Pankaj