Cindrella to CEO….. Hand in Hand!!!!

“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the wont’s. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me. .. Anything can happen, child. Anything can be. “

I remember reading Shell Silverstein, many years back, when doing research on Children’s literature.  And every time I read this quote, it would bring to my mind, a number I had heard and seen as a child – Chal, Chal, Chal Mere Saathi. A song epitomized by the superstar Rajesh Khanna. The movie ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’ was released in 1971. I have absolutely no recollection of the plot or the story line. The only thing I remember though is the song and the sequence – the lyrics, the color, the emotion and the charisma of Rajesh Khanna that has stayed with me through the years. I re-live my childhood and the dreams of a romantic teenager every time I listen to it.

As a child, the song captured my imagination with the presence of the elephants. The playfulness of the animals, the simplicity of the lyrics and the joy projected was enough to keep me glued to the screen and watch/ listen to it over and over again.  It felt like a kitten huddling in the shelter of a clasp.

chal chal chal mere haathI, o mere saathi
chal le chal khaTaaraa kheench ke
chal yaar, dhakkaa maar
band hai moTar car
chal yaar dhakkaa maar
chal chal chal ...

phuulon sI naazuk hai vo, moTar mein baiThii hai jo
aahistaa aahistaa chal, usako nA takaliif ho
hai hai, khaa nA jAye
hai hai, khaa nA jAye usakii naazuk kamariyaa bal, chal
chal chal chal ...

And as the years went by, the same song took on a meaning that perhaps was the essence of my life then. A teenager, a young woman, who dreams of a life that has her love in it, a world where there is fun and totally devoid of the do’s and don’ts (that she is otherwise surrounded with), and a realm where she cherishes to be ‘bashfully independent’.  It’s a time where she straddles between her desire to be liberated in every sense of the term (in this case represented by Tanuja driving a car) and her dream of being treated with extreme kindliness by her knight in shining armor. Romance, in my heart and mind, then was a blend of individuality and acquiescence.

khidamat terI kaam de, shaayad vo Inaam de
kar us hasin ko salaam, aaNkhon se paigaam de
paas AjA, o sun raajaa
paas AjA, o sun raajaa
aisA maukA nA jAye nikal, chal
chal chal chal ...

I was surrounded by the all-powerful (elephants), the man who controls that power (Rajesh Khanna), and yet, it is ME who is in charge!!!!  An image that you carry through your teens into youth!. Sounds weird and quite silly at some level today; but well, it was a metaphor that I held on to. I want to be on the driver’s seat! 

tU yaaron kA yaar hai, kitanaa wafaadaar hai
jhuuThaa hai saaraa jahaaN, sacha terA pyaar hai
tU pagalaa, nA badalaa,
tU pagalaa, nA badalaa
sArI duniyA gayii hai badal, chal
chal chal chal ... 

And then the grand finale…. Of the all-powerful being the one and only!  

I have pirouetted as a child, smiled secretly as a teenager, beamed in youth and leered as an adult at the same metaphor - and I have enjoyed every moment of it.  The man who made this happen – Rajesh Khanna is no more. There has been no one as charming a romantic super hero as him. Amitabh Bachchan is and will always be the handsome angry young man. Aamir Khan is the radical, and the rest are …well… stars!!!! Rajesh Khanna is the Don Quixote and Sancho Panza rolled into one.  

I am a very different person today. I speak the language of ‘liberation’, believe in self-fulfillment, and encourage the removal of barriers. And in the midst of it all, feel the flutter in my heart from time to time.

The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things. I have played with this lovely song through all these years.  Listening to it is to experience the ‘weak at the knees’ moment. It is an excitement that is always welcome.

Mr Rajesh Khanna…. RIP…. The romance is still alive in me!!!!