City Lights

Ghazal Feast
Ghazal maestro Pankaj Udhas knew he had to do something for the musical genre about 10 years ago when he saw its popularity flailing. As many years later, he regaled lovers of the quintessential love songs last week at a ghazal fest called Khazana where several artistes performed together to raise funds for cancer patients . Udhas let on to our correspondent that as “a typical Gujarati boy” he knew nothing of Urdu—the language of poetryand it was only when he was in college at St Xavier’s that he tentatively began to sing ghazals.The two-day ghazal fest that he started in 2002 featured almost all the contemporary stalwarts, including Bhupinder Singh, Mitali Singh, Pandit Ajay Pohankar, Abhijit Pohankar, Ustad Rashid Khan, Anup Jalota, Talat Aziz, Ahmed Hussain and Mohammed Hussain. The ustad himself had a request waiting for him when he took the stage—‘ Chhithi aayi hain’ from the movie Naam, which more than 25 years later had the audience young and old alike almost singing along.
Death Wish
Health and fitness figured prominently in informal discussions of Maharashtra MLAs who were in Mumbai recently for the state legislature’s monsoon session. As the discussion hotted up over endless cups of steaming chai, Congress MLA from Jalna , Kailash Gorantyal, had an interesting postscript. “You are all talking of immortality . But I have a different problem on my plate. People in my constituency and from neighbouring districts are vying to book into the local crematorium for a very special purpose. According to folklore, during his exile, Lord Rama learned of the demise of his father King Dashratha, and performed a shraadh at the Jalna crematorium. Now, the crematorium on the banks of river Kundalini is referred to as Ramteerth. And, therefore, the craze for the burning ghat.”
Ghoda Cartel
Taxi drivers have formed a cartel at some of the existing stands in the city. If you plan to catch a cab, one of the drivers will come forward and play the unofficial negotiator for the gang. He will ask you the destination and demand a fixed fare, say, Rs 350 to ferry you to the airport. You will be annoyed as the normal fare would not be more than Rs 250, and so you would go to another driver. But they all belong to the same herd and each one will avoid making eye contact with you. When you realize that they have ganged up, you will be left with no choice but to bargain. The negotiator may come down to Rs 300, and one of the drivers will now quickly usher you into his cab. No need to tamper with meters, right?
Promised Ride
Aresult of the ongoing metro work at Andheri East is that commuters find it a challenge to get autorickshaws from the station area for short distances. Last week, a commuter was pleasantly surprised when an auto driver immediately agreed. As she started settling down, the driver laid down his one condition. “I am going only on the condition that you will not get out mid-way .” Since the distance was less than two kilometres , the lady was amused and not at all dissuaded by the strange pre-condition . But barely had the auto travelled a few hundred meters that she realized what she had got herself into with the rickshaw coming to a halt at the tail end of a massive traffic jam. Having promised to travel all the way, she had not choice but to sit it out until she reached her destination 45 minutes late and poorer by Rs 50.
Taking Aim
An interesting fallout of the recent silvery victory of pistol shooter Vijay Kumar Sharma is that some of the toy stores in the city suddenly saw a spurt in little boys — and some girls — buying toy guns. Not surprising that children in Mumbai would take an instant interest in this sport, not just because of its sudden glamour but also because in a city profoundly deprived of open spaces, this is a relatively easy activity to indulge in. There really may be something here. If schools and sports clubs could take a cue from this, they may just be able to create a new generation of champions. Besides, the sport's requirement of concentration, focus and control over the nervous system can only help these distracted young ones who are increasingly addled with attentiondeficit issues. Besides, one of the most glorious mythological tales that has always appealed to children is that of Arjuna managing to shoot the moving target — with his eyes closed.
(Contributed by Swati Deshpande, Sanjeev Shivadekar, Somit Sen, Mayur Shetty and Namita Devidayal. Compiled by Rucha Biju Chitrodia)