Summer of 1986 (and the 4 Ms)

Continuing the nostalgic saga...................

Miandad:
17th April 1986.

That was the last day of the 10th board exam for the MP's first batch of 10+2 students. The past year's eventful session with Operation Blue Star and post Indira Gandhi riots, weeks long curfew, Bhopal Gas tragedy and two back to back elections were considered too much stress for the 9th grade students by Arjun Singh (then CM) and had granted a state wide general promotion. With no filtering on 9th graders for the past year so many eyes were already on this crucial board examination. And as it would prove later that was probably the worst year of MP's educational history in terms of 10th board results but as of that day I was the happiest person. Not because my board exams were finally over but the fact that finally I had earned the right to watch an "usual" cinema (and not a tax free kids one) and the very next day I was going to franchise my right along with few other colony friends. B Sai Babu Reddy was one of them. There were two choices in the list. Sultanat (with Sunny Deol/Juhi/Sridevi) at Babulal theater, or Ilzaam (introducing Govinda, Neelam) at Anand talkies. Going by the music and craze Ilzaam was the obvious winner. I still remember Bsai trying his best to postpone our movie plan in favor of watching the ongoing cricket Match at Sharjah but giving in at the end. Matinee show was its peak at Anand talkies, we were little late in entering the hall but that experience of searching for our seats in that semi dark theater..... as the big silver screen with Govinda's dance and blaring music of I am a street Dancer throwing the young audience into frenzy....Unforgettable.

Coming out of theater we were surprised to see the somberness of the city street and at the Rly. Institute (our regular meeting point in loco colony). Soon we found out that while we were immersed in silver screen's Dunia kee aisi-ki-taisi, in reality Javed Miandad did that to Chetan Sharma in the match's last ball's by hitting a sixer and winning the Australasia cup. I am not sure if Bsai was happy to miss the sad episode of India losing the finals or sad to miss that historic occasion of the world of cricket.

Moni:
20th April 1986.

When Moni (my grandma) came to our house in late 1985 she told that she is not going anywhere else from there. Generally throughout my childhood she stayed with us with occasional trips to Calcutta but because of Baba's transfer and moving from Kharsia to Raipur, waiting for the quarter etc this time she was in Calcutta for last 1 and 1/2 year or so.
And this time when I saw her...she seemed very different than what I remembered before, much silent, much weaker and not that active as she was known for. She was already sick and very weak since past few weeks when on 19th Baba decided that maybe it is the rising heat. Summer had just begun. So we went to order for a cooler. The one we liked was out of stock and would take around a week. On 20th around midnight while Baba and we three brothers were asleep in outside courtyard (Maa was with Moni in the room), Maa called us as Moni was taking deep breaths making that hissing noise. Her eyes were closed and she would not respond to anything. Maa already had seen dadu (her father) in his last moments and told us its not a good sign. Baba asked the night watchman to fetch our local doctor immediately while all five of us just sit there besides Moni who was quite senseless by then. I remember we all tried to drip water through her partly opened mouth. We never knew exactly when she passed away but but by the time doctor came in around 2AM it was late. She was 88 years old. A strong willed and very forward and open minded lady during her times, and so darling to all her grand kids. I was trying to gauge Baba more and feeling the pain but he never broke down and maintained himself thoroughly. Only time he broke down was at funeral ghaat the next afternoon. I too could not stop tears at that time. The coming few days would be hectic for all of us with lots of rituals and preparation for the shraadh ceremony. Sometimes I think maybe it is that sheer cleverness of our founder fathers who made these rules and social gatherings a must which immensely helps in forgetting the real cause behind all this and eases the transition period of mourning to normalcy. And in 15/20 days things became as usual..regular routine life, except Moni was now with us in memory and a big picture frame with a garland around her. Time does not STOP for anyone.

After many days while having dinner Baba wondered once if the cooler would have made any difference. Probably not but then there are things which stays with you forever......"what if" !

Mits:
May 1986:

Lokesh (now Zaab!), Manish (Khedu) and me cleared the first level of NCERT exams from our school and the second level was scheduled for one Sunday morning of May'86 in the capital city of Bhopal in Model school. Baba, Maa and we three brothers all went to Bhopal via Nagpur. Both the places we have relatives and some wonderful Dadas and Didis (cousins). It was a change too for all of us after Moni's death. The multiple choice exam was a total flop. I did realize that no chance to move to 3rd level to Delhi just minutes after seeing the question paper. But it was overall a great experience. The trip also included a quick luncheon visit to an address in Shaktinagar, Bhopal.

12 years later I would go to the same address again but for a very different and more permanent reason.

Maradona.
21st June 1986.

We three brothers were demanding to get a TV set since long, but there were so many reasons/excuses and it was turned down each time. But the world cup soccer of 1986 changed that for ever. Maybe it was Bong's ever-strong love affair with football, so though Baba never played soccer (I think) but he was following that with much enthusiasm that year. Finally Baba/Maa with lot of pursuance from Dida (Maa's mother who visited us then) agreed to get a TV set. With many conditions like when it will be ON, when it will be OFF, what we can see and what we can not. We three were so excited and agreed to all the conditions without any hesitation. Much of the world cup was already over by that then. Baba decided to get it on Saturday 21^st June so that we could watch the first quarterfinal. The TV set which came to our house that evening was a CROWN portable BnW. It was a cute little red box with turn-style knobs for 12 or 13 channels it had and two rabbit ear antennae. I remember watching the movie which Doordarshan played that Saturday night “Pirates of the 20^th Century” followed by the most thriller soccer match I have ever seen till date. This was the first quarter final between Brazil and France with greats of Platini, Socrates and Zico. France won (rather Brazil lost because of Zico missing the last of the penalty shootout kick). What a great historic day to purchase a TV and witness one of the classics. Unfortunately next day same time when we would eagerly wait for the Argentina-England quarter final to see that tournament's hero Maradona in action the TV simply stopped working. Just plain dead. Kicking, Praying, Voodoing nothing worked. So seeing Maradona’s Hands of God Goal in live was not in our kismet that night but based on previous night's experience we could hardly complain. The TV was replaced by another similar set the very next day and would stay at our home without any issues for two more FIFA world cup seasons.

To be continued......