Showing posts with label Godavari. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Godavari. Show all posts

Writer Basti

 That's the name of a colony (basti is a colony) we lived in in the small coal-mining town, ages ago. In general, life in the towns was slow, devoid of any major city-style entertainment. But I was fixated on the radio, and later, the gramophone records. The Club where we socialised and played Badminton or went swimming took care of the rest. The radio had cricket commentary and news too, so it was the Google of yesteryear for us. Plus Youtube, minus the videos.

We were there mostly in the summer holidays, and we played a lot of Bridge with friends and parents too. So we were happy and carefree, though the heat reached the high forties Celsius quite often. Sometimes, movies were an outing, and at others, a trip to the river. The Godavari was not too far from one of our homes.

Recently, we caught up with some old friends from that era, so this is nostalgia born out of that meeting.

The Importance of being G

These ruminations are to prove that G is probably the most important letter in the alphabet. Wanna bet?

1. A lot of positivity comes out of words that start with a G- Good to Great.

2. Very commonly used term in Lucknow, U.P. is G Haan. In Delhi, or Punjab, it is turned around to Haan G, but still contains the all important letter.

3. Important dialogues in films start with the word Gaonwalon, like in Sholay. Used by Gabbar (G again) and Dharmendra on the water-tank.

4. Important countries of the world (those whose currency does not depreciate) are called G-10 nations.

5. GDP is a measure of how well you are doing, except in Bhutan, where only happiness is measured. Poor souls.

6. India's answer to James Bond, Mithun, went by the name Gunmaster G-9. Not F-9 or B-9. Even the cult movie on campuses is Gunday, starring him.

7. An often-used gaali (honourable term of address) in Hindi is Gadhey...

8. Ghotala, the Hindi word for scandal, also begins with a G. Where would news channels be without these?

9. Ganga and Godavari, two of our most important rivers, are G rivers.

Above all, two words that drive the spiritual, and the corporate sports-world start with a G-

10. God, and

11. Golf.

I rest my case.

Rivers





I grew up around the Godavari river. Happened to visit the various tributaries of the Ganga during a trip to Badrinath a few years ago. This May, we saw the Indus and Zanskar rivers (the sangam in the pics here) during the Leh-Ladakh trip. It's a great feeling to see some of these cradles of human civilization, and ponder the role they played in shaping human destiny. Otherwise, Man might as well have been on the Moon!

Apne Ghar Jaisa- Play

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