Last Christmas!

George Michael, the heartthrob of millions and the singer of the iconic 'Last Christmas', died on Christmas Day, 2016. 

There are many songs by him that have captured the hearts of millions of fans worldwide but 'Last Christmas' is a favorite of mine; I have listened to it hundreds of times and is always on my playlist. It is one of those anytime any season songs owing to its soft synth beats and mellifluous energetic singing. The song was by the band Wham! duo of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. Released in 1984, it stills remains fresh, simple and whistle worthy. 

The irony is that 'Last Christmas' is the biggest-selling single in UK chart history not to reach number one. There are some songs which are instantly likeable, very frothy and 'bubble gum' like. 'Last Christmas' is among the top of those. 

The video is very simple, shot in snow in Switzerland as George Michael goes on a skiing party with his ex-girlfriend who is now with someone else; hence the lyrics. The irony is that it is a 'sad song' without much of the sadness in the tune! It sounds like a 'happy' or 'jolly' song, but it is a sad song in reality. The pathos is so well built in the instantly likeable tune - where George dwells on his past with his girlfriend - that you end up doing the sing along, realising that it is a 'break-up' song only while the lyrics hit you! Sample this:

"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
the very next day, you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears,
 I’ll give it to someone special"

As the song goes on, you realise that he wants to move on but is reluctantly doing so. I particularly love the tune when he goes "A face on a lover with a fire in his heart... A man undercover but you tore him apart"....it hits a peak. You don't realize that it is such a lengthy song (6 minutes and 45 seconds, to be precise) due to the tune and lively singing by George Michael. It is one for all seasons, why only Christmas?

The video for the song can be seen here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gmARGvPlI

The song became one of the most played songs during the last weeks of December every year on all music channels, the word 'Christmas' and the picturisation in the snow playing a large  part in the airplay. 

The royalties received on the success of this single were donated to the Ethiopian famine in 1984.

It is indeed ironic that George Michael had to die on Christmas Day! 

Oh, what a classic!

Denuded, ripped and ravaged.....apocalypse at 150 kmph!

"kaalo'smi lokakshayakrit pravrddho

lokaan samahartum iha pravrttaH

rte'pi tvaam na bhavishyanti sarve

ye'vasthithaaH pratyaniikeShu yoddhaaH"

"I am time (or death),  the great one,  who causes decay of the worlds, working here for the destruction of the worlds. Even without you, all warriors present in the opposing army will not (always) be "

(Or, in short) "Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

- Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita

The last time a cyclone had hit Madras it was in 1994; I do not remember much about it, except that it was raining heavily with the wind blowing in all directions. I remember that i could not see anything from the first floor balcony of my house. This time, my being in Madras during the close was itself happenstance with my flight to Bombay being cancelled. On a day of heavy rain, the air traffic takes a hit. On a day when there is a cyclone, the flights get grounded, runways close and airport shuts down - what with the cyclone making a landfall on the city directly.

Everyone was waiting it out; there was no option anyway. The news bulletins on TV started since the morning - the cyclone was to hit that afternoon - warnings, evacuations, debates on how prepared we are. The rain had been intermittent the day before. 

And it did arrive, the hero of the season - the wind / gale or whatever you call it, starting with a gentle breeze and picking up steam thereafter. And how strong did it get! The rain started a drizzle, then a downpour and then it was water in all directions with the wind playing havoc. Power was suspended after prior intimation, as a safety measure. The naked dance started later. The sound of the wind, at 150 kmph, would implant fear into the strongest of hearts , simply because one is powerless against nature. You just cannot do a thing. The cyclone was to cross by 3 pm or so. When it was on, there was complete pandemonium. Everything seemed to be in the air - leaves, barks, branches of trees, paper, garbage, rubbish, particles of what and what not - even dish antennae.

I went outside, a huge umbrella in hand, well after the cyclone was supposed to have crossed. Then it happened, a sudden gust of wind, which appeared a left over, set in. It was an experience of how nature controls us. For once, the umbrella was pulled in all directions. With such a big umbrella, it was impossible to get wet and that day I got fully wet. It appeared as if the rain was even lashing from the bottom! What an encounter it was!

The usual suspects, the trees, started throwing in the towel - the stronger ones shed their leaves and branches; the weaker ones, well, themselves. It is not an easy sight, that of a fully grown tree getting uprooted and falling in front of your eyes, with the sound of fury as background music. Having been fed on a staple diet of Hollywood, I was reminded of disaster flicks like 'Twister',  "The Perfect Storm' and the like. Only this time, I was one of the actors in a real life movie. Nature has a way of showcasing its might, showing who is boss.

The cyclone was fierce, its roar growing by the minute. After a point of time, we all hid inside the house. The house resembled a war bunker where people were hiding to escape a shelling. We were hiding to escape the fury of the barrage of power showcased outside. The next hour or so was jarring with the Dolby effects of the destruction outside. Everything, everyone was powerless. One could only pray. The noise the cyclone made perhaps even made the prayers dissipate in mid air and not reach the Gods above. They couldn't hear us!

And then it ended. The after effects of the naked dance was there for everyone to see. Uprooted trees, fallen vehicles, lamp posts, street lights, wires strewn everywhere - it was like a wild kid gone crazy. It brought the entire bustling city to a standstill.

Then the night descended but the wind blew all night with a whirl, continuing to play in the head. The next day, I spent a couple of hours with a few others removing just one tree from the road! Riding through the city was like riding through a forest with trees and leaves of green everywhere. The IIT Madras, for example,  had a trail of destruction - a mangled mess of green. It has been two weeks and the city is still picking its pieces.

That day, fear had a new name - Vardah!

If only..

“It is in my nature to excel in whatever I do”

“Life has put me through a wringer”

"No one can get anything out of me or subdue me by threats, harsh treatment; it only makes me more stubborn, inflexible, unbending, determined. The only way anyone can get me to cooperate is to be nice to me, pamper me, cajole me, talk to me kindly, softly."

“I don’t understand the word platonic. Either there is a romantic relationship between two people or they are just friends.”

“The experiences I have been through, the suffering and pain have taught me an important lesson: in life there is one person you must rely on—yourself.”

“When you are a leader, you learn to control your emotions. You learn not to show your emotions openly. You have to”

The experiences I have been through, the suffering and pain have taught me an important lesson: in life there is one person you must rely on—yourself.

“…Now I am my own person. I have evolved. Hereafter, I am responsible only for myself. Never again will anybody influence me to such an extent that all my thoughts and actions and statements are influenced and made in a particular way just because someone else wants it that way."

”I am human, like everyone else. I do experience emotions and, I wouldn’t be normal if I didn’t experience feelings of anger and other emotions”

- All quotes from the internet attributed to Ms.J Jayalalithaa, former Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu (1948-2016)

The sea of crowds was not a surprise; in any other case, it could have also been managed (not saying it was; in fact, it was not in her case) but the near national level influence (and to some extent, international, going by news reports of international channels and newspapers reporting the passing away of a state level politician) of a lady who had not really gone beyond the ramparts of her Madras Fort was surprising to me. Non-Tamil Nadu governments declared holidays; CMs from almost every state made a beeline to pay their last respects; news channels telecast only about her for two days and then beamed her final journey live. Kind of unbelievable, the clout or influence she had.

I am kind of surprised because she was not a national level politician except for a stint at the Rajya Sabha more than 20 years back. It would be wrong to conclude that her influence was because of the numbers she cobbled up at the Lok Sabha. So what made her tick?

A state topper in class ten, she led a highly regimented life. She says that all her life, she was accustomed to working very hard – even at the age of four, she had to get up at five in the morning, have classical Carnatic music lessons, go to school, return, attend dance classes, complete homework, have dinner and fall into bed – Phew, man, that is something for a baby who has just grown into a kid. Once she was pushed into the film industry by her mother, she worked even six shifts a day - all through her film career, she never had any time to rest or sleep. It was work, work, and work all the time.

Someone about whom every other person only uses the words ‘brilliant’ ‘excellent’ and every single superlative, glorifying English epithet in the book must really be something. Indeed, she was.

One of the most avid readers on the planet, she could speak on anything – the relevance of the nuclear deal to the mid day meal scheme. There is a story of her as a kid buying so many books from Higginbothams, Madras in the early 60s. She was in two fields – movies and politics - by chance and not by choice; but excelled in both.

Not to take anything away from her, but her ascent was also helped by the fact that there was no real challenger to her in terms of grace, poise and most importantly – intellect. When you see too many mediocre people around you, you are bound to get a bit haughty.“When you are as great as I am, it is difficult to be humble” - So said Muhammad Ali, world boxing champion. I guess she was like that. When you find men either drooling over you all the time or the others devoid of much grey matter, it is bound to, at some level, make you super confident and push this thing into your mind – ‘Hey, come on, treat them with disdain’. One look at her quotes above and one can realize what sort of a person she was.

Yes, she was someone with super administrative capabilities which were the cornerstone of many of her decisions and perhaps the reasons for her being returned to office – the first in almost 30 years. The bureaucrats respected her – it was a relief for them to have someone who was intelligent, knew how to run a state, grasp things, and dole out advice.

It is even fascinating as to how she managed to put seasoned wily politicians in the shade with her own brand of politics. Yes, a lot of vitriol, but that is how politics is – they drag you to their level and expect you to play them down there. Being a lady, she was subject to the butt of innuendo, irreverence by many – inside and outside her party. These harboured in her, a distrust for others rather early in life, which only swelled by the day. This also resulted in her targeting even the right people at times. She felt that in politics men think a woman is dispensable and they try to destroy her existence, which is true till today. Multiple examples abound. Women are hated for just being women. In many spheres of life, why only politics?

I would have ideally liked to see her as the Prime Minister of India. It makes me think, and really think as to what she would have done if she had occupied that seat.

The biggest mistake she did and for which she does not get the vote of many, including mine, is her company and the way she allowed such company to dominate, even overshadow her completely – whether in administration or politics or personal life. It has left a bad taste in the mouth and has stunted all that she could have achieved. It is intriguing as to how such a powerful personality could have such an Achilles’ heel. That ultimately proved to be her undoing. If not for the pusillanimous courts, the very short public memory and a very weak opposition, she would not have been as deified as she has been today.

That also makes me wonder, who she would have been if not for that company – and it is wondrous, indeed. Sigh.