Month: April 2017

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – April, 2017

Welcome to April, 2017 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

The first day of April is to make fun. We have picked up  a topical post to commence our present episode:

Some unique good good songs is an excellent presentation of songs that repeat words, so typical spoken style of Hindi language, e.g.

We will now take up the posts on the anniversaries or eulogies:

Then and now: How a ’40s movie star dealt with a bad marriage and prying eyes  -Kanan Devi broke off her short-lived marriage to Ashok Maitra after he objected to her career, thereby proving herself to be a truly independent spirit. – an excerpt with permission from Kanan Devi The First Superstar of Indian Cinema, Mekhala Sengupta, HarperCollins India.

Shamshad Begum with 3G, i.e. music directors Ghulam Haider, Ghulam Mohammad and Pt. Govind Ram,is a tribute to her on her 98th birth anniversary. The previous articles on Shamshad Begum @ SoY are available @ the tag Shamshad Begum.

The bit about Parveen Babi that you won’t find in the UG Krishnamurti biography – An outtake from the graphic novel by Nicolas C Grey and James Farley imagines the actress’s encounters with the philosopher. – Depicted here are the panels, which were not used in the final publication, the authors imagine the moment when Babi became a Krishnamurti follower – Reproduced with permission from This Dog Barking: The Strange Story of UG Krishnamurti, Nicolas C Grey and James Farley, HarperCollins India.

Yesterday’s Films For Tomorrow – It was but natural that legendary

PK Nair was a collector, a cinephile, a historian, an archivist, an evangelist, a teacher and a student of cinema

archivist and  ‘Celluloid Man’ PK Nair’s last wish was that his personal collection of books, journals and diaries be handed over the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) to preserve after he passes on. Yesterday’s Films for Tomorrow was released recently in Mumbai to commemorate P K Nair’s 84th birthday.

Antara Nanda Mondal notes that this book is a remembrance of a person who was obsessed with not just the stories that cinema told, but with all its facets — the form, function and the ephemera of the moving image.

Peeyush Sharma pays tribute to K L Saigal with a journey through Saigal’s songs in Main Kya Janoon Kya Jadoo Hai: K L Saigal’s Magical Music .

‘KL Saigal’s Songs Started the Sugam Sangeet Revolution’ – In Conversation with Author Pran Nevile – Pran Nevile is the author of the authoritative book KL Saigal – Immortal Singer and Superstar; K.L. Saigal The Definitive Biography and the richly illustrated Nautch Girls of India: Dancers, Singers, Playmates.

After a successful career in the Indian Foreign Service and the United Nations, Pran Nevile turned to writing specializing in the study of Indian art and culture. His other books include Lahore – A sentimental Journey; The Raj Revisited; Love Stories from the Raj; Rare Glimpses of the Raj; Stories from the Raj – Sahibs, Memsahibs and Others; Beyond the Veil – Indian Women in the Raj and Marvels of Indian Painting: Rise and Demise of Company School.

In a conversation with Sundeep Pahwa in his Gurgaon home, Pran Nevile responds to a series of questions on K L Saigal drawn up by Peeyush Sharma and Sundeep Pahwa.

The April 2017 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs was dedicated to Hasrat Jaipuri, recalling his songs for music directors other than Shanker Jaikishan. This post has covered songs from the beginning of his career till 1953.

Here are posts on other subjects as well:

Ten of my favourite ‘not-quite-duet’ songs are ‘technically duets’: not songs in which both singers play an equal part in making the song what it is, but in which the ratio is somewhat skewed or in which one singer only hummed, while the other did the singing. E.g. Phir aane lagaa yaad wohi (Yeh Dil Kisko Doon, 1963): Interestingly, Yeh Dil Kisko Doon featured not one, but two, songs that were sung primarily by a man but had a woman pitching in occasionally to add another dimension to the song. In Kitni haseen ho tum, Asha Bhonsle sings half a line here, half a line there while Rafi sings the rest of the song. In Phir aane lagaa yaad wohi, however, the female singer (in this case, Usha Khanna) has even less to sing: all she sings is three words, repeated at intervals through the song: Pyaar ka aalam, while Rafi sings the rest of the song. It works very well in this dreamy dream sequence.

Here is a belated posting: Enchanting Salil Chowdhary  – Listen to 18 songs from Salil Chowdhary by clicking the link below. These songs are from the 1950s to early 70s and many of them feature brisk movements among notes and wonderful arrangements to create an enchanting experience: LINK TO PLAYLIST OF SALIL CHOWDHARY SONGS

Sound of Lollywood: An obscure movie has a hidden gem for qawwali fans – “Mere Paas Aao’ from ‘First Time’ is, by turns, spiritual and romantic and wholly enjoyable.

Sahir Ludhianvi’s ‘Woh Subah Kabhi Toh Aayegi’ finds new meaning in ‘Begum Jaan’ – A song written after 1947 aptly describes the condition of a newly independent India. –  The song Woh Subah Kabhi Toh Aayegi from Phir Subah Hogi (1958) appears in the climax of Begum Jaan, with the lyrics and context made relevant to the plot.

A Look at Some of The New Remixes of Old Bolywood Songs – Sharada  Iyer wades through remixed songs and their corresponding originals in this article.

Picture the song: When Amol Palekar grinned his way to success in ‘Ye Din Kya Aaye’ – The entire world of Basu Chatterjee’s ‘Chhoti Si Baat’ is contained in a six-minute musical interlude.

A pat of butter and a picnic basket of movie memories – This is written for the film section of the Amul India book, which you can get here.

A Ghulamm Mohd. Song – Ye Duniya Hai – Shair 1949 – Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh

Ghantasala modulates the same phrase in several ways – ‘Emanene’ said in so many ways. As ‘barago’ says, once as question, then with anxiety, soothing and agitation.

Meethe Bol Bole, Bole Paayaliya – A Sparkling Jugalbandi of Music and Dance – Meethe bol bole in Kinara is a beautiful sangam of classical excellence brought together by three maestros – the music of RD Burman, the lyrics and direction of Gulzar and the Kathak Nritya choreography of Gopi Krishna. Anand Desai and Antara Nanda Mondal explore the layers of musical delights and dance pieces hidden within this sparkling gem from Kinara, sung by Bhupinder Singh and Lata Mangeshkar.

We have taken the first step in our annual Micro View of Best Songs 1948 @SoY

We end our present episode with Dual Versions of the Same Song by Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar – Sharada Iyer has presented 21 such songs with a small note for each song. I have picked up Mohammad Rafi’s version of Agar Bewafaa Tujhko Pehchaan Jaate…from an unheard film, Raat Ke Andere Mein (1969). The song is written and composed by Prem Dhawan

I trust you will always feel free to proffer your suggestions for making this series of posts more lively and informative….

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – April, 2017

Welcome to April, 2017 edition of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We will commence our episode with three articles on Quality, in general.

The Quest for Quality in the Modern Enterprise – Michael Heaps and Kathie Poindexter – The holy grail of quality is 360-degree visibility, measurable, real-time performance and the ability to go far beyond compliance into the realm of true, value adding and sustained improvement initiatives.

The other article – 4 Quality Management System Trends to Watch Out For In 2016  –  in fact, relates to QMS trends in 2016. However following takeaways seem relevant even for 2017:

  • Long and complex supply chains, along with an ever-changing regulatory landscape, present big compliance challenges.
  • The cloud has moved into mainstream business adoption as the value of subscription-based models and minimal on-premises infrastructure become clearly understood.
  • Business leaders are finally getting to grips with data analytics, and quality managers should be prepared to respond to this with meaningful uses of big data in their field.
  • The Internet of Things can play a transformational role in eliminating the human errors that can creep in with suboptimal systems and processes.

Jenny Brown in Top 7 Organizational Trends in Quality Management takes a quick look at the key trends that are offering the much needed competitive edge to organizations and impacting all quality initiatives to make them gain further momentum in future:

  1. Supplier-Specific Quality Standards of the Highest Levels
  2. Change Management for Higher Consistency in Work Processes
  3. Consistent and Continuous Evolutions in Quality Management
  4. ‘Six Sigma’ for Continuous Business Growth
  5. Quality Departments are Opting for Strategic Quality Planning by integrating many quality-related initiatives such as Lean, Kaizen, ISO registration, Six Sigma, and others in their strategy planning processes.
  6. Value to Supply—Quality Management is everywhere
  7. Social Equity and Environmental Sustainability

Quality management is being positively impacted by many latest organizational trends and is well set to dominate the future economy too. It’s expected that all industry sectors will be governed by this combination of project management and quality principles in the years to come.

We add one more column to our regular columns on our Blog Carnival for the current month. This is from Drucker Perspective column @ Management Matters Network. For the present we have –

Are You Asking the Right Questions? – The most serious mistakes are not the result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong questions….A wrong answer to the right question can, as a rule, be repaired and salvaged….But if you ask the wrong question and get the right answer, chances are it will take a lot longer to discover and it inevitably leads to even more costly errors.

We will now turn to our regular sections:

I have picked up the question with regard to clauses 8.4.1 and particularly 8.4.2 of ISO 9001:2015, should the other internal entities of the company (.i.e HR, IT, Sales …) absolutely necessary but outside of the perimeter be considered exactly like external providers. The answer being in affirmative, adds three comments: One, being captive, not all controls that would be applied to an outside body would be applicable. Two, use process approach (clause 4.4) to determine how these departments interact and interface with core QMS processes. And, three, exploit the concept of context of the organization (clause 4.1) to further explore these relationships.

ASQ CEO, Bill Troy has presented the Guest Post: How to Choose Continuous Improvement Software by Chris Moustakas, President & CEO of DevonWay. The best-performing organizations choose Continuous Improvement (CI) as the framework for achieving that agility of dealing with a barrage of regulatory hurdles, performance gaps, and inefficiencies, and have to move quickly to stay competitive. Most of the software models available in the market have their own challenges. ERP and QMS and BPM system software models do have elements what good CI software ought to incorporate, but it needs to be remembered that Continuous Improvement happens when you apply Quality principles to Operational needs.

We now watch two of the latest ASQ TV  episode:

Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems for the month of March, 2017:

Defining Variability – Special cause variation generally comes as a surprise to the system– In the early 1920s, Dr. Walter A. Shewhart of Western Electric Company developed a theory that there are two components to variation: an inherent component from random variation he called chance-cause variation and an intermittent variation due to special cause which he referred to as assignable cause variation…..Dr. Shewhart’s improvement approach was that assignable causes could be removed with an effective diagnostic program. At the same time, he became convinced that random (chance-cause) variation could not be removed without making basic process or product changes….It is important, therefore, to understand the implications of the two alternatives before making a decision as to actions, or inactions, to be taken….‘Special cause variation generally comes as a surprise because it acts as a signal to the system that something’s gone astray.’

Whilst on the subject, it would be interesting to learn what Dr. Edward Deming has to say on the subject of variability –

Lynda M. Finn in the third of a 4-part series on Deming’s system of management, SoPK has listed 6 common mistakes that businesses make – and why they make them

Mistake #1: Failure to plot data over time

Mistake #2: Neglecting to normalize

Mistake #3: Neglecting to stratify

Mistake #4: Treating a continuous metric as discrete

Mistake #5: Not identifying key metrics

Mistake #6: Acting inappropriately in the face of common cause variation

For other three parts of the series, read:

Part I: Systems Thinking and the Three Musketeers

Part II: The Trouble with Motivation

Part IV: How Do We Know What We Know?

I look forward to your active participation in enriching the blog carnival as we pursue our journey in exploring the happenings across quality management blogs…………

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

Fading Memories…. Unforgettable Songs: April, 2017

Hasrat Jaipuri – Beyond Shanker Jaikishan

Hasrat Jaipuri (April 15, 1922 – September 17, 1999), born as Iqbal Husaain, recorded Jiya Beqaraar Hai as his first solo song for Hindi films for Barsat (1949). His second song (and first duet) was Chhor Gaye Baalam for the same film. Ever since, Hasrat Jaipuri, and for that matter his conjugate lyricist Shailendra, are considered inseparable element of the Shanker Jaikishan songs.

However, It is no secret that Hasrat Jaipuri, and Shailendra too, have written many songs for other music directors as well. Hasrat Jaipuri has penned songs for Sajjad  Hussain to C Ramachandra, to  golden era’s Madan Mohan, S D Burman and to the 90s ear music directors like Nadeem Shravan, Jatin Lalit too.

As our tribute to Hasrat Jaipuri, in the present episode, we will recollect his songs for other music directors. The period under our present consideration is from the beginning of his career till 1953. We will restrict ourselves to one song for each of the (other) music director in this period.

The first film is Wafa (1950). HJ has three songs in the film. Two songs are composed by Vinod and one by Bulo C Rani.

Armaan Bhara Dil Toot Gaya – Wafa (1950) – Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar – Bulo C Rani

This song strongly establishes that HJ’s sensitivity seen in the lyrics of Barsat songs is not once in a blue mood affair.

In 1951, HJ’s filmography lists Bade Sahab for which Nisar had composed the music. As of now, our highly resourceful net-friends do not seem to have located the songs, so we do not have been to locate link to the digital version of the songs.

There is one more film, the unreleased one in 1951 – Imaan. The film had four songs from HJ – three solos by Asha Bhosle and one duet of Talat Mahmood-Asha Bhosle.

O Julmi Nayana Roye Ja Tu – Imaan – Asha Bhosle – Pt. Motiram

This should go down as the first film where Asha Bhosle has rendered HJ’s song. HJ’s songs in Asha Bhosle’s voice should in itself be an interesting subject to explore !

1951 had one more HJ- Pt. Motiram film – Lachak, which had one song to HJ’s account – A Rafi- Asha duet.

1951 also had HJ collaborating with Sajjad Hussain too.

Khalayaon Mein Tum Ho – Sainyaa (1951) – Lata Mangeshkar, Chorus – Sajjad Hussain

This is almost a signature composition of Sajjad, in which HJ has maintained the mood by deploying not-so-complicated lyrics.

1951 has one more HJ film – Saudagar – for which Hanuman Prasad has composed two duets in G M Durrani- Asha Bhosle’s voice. Unfortunately I could not locate link to digital audio versions of the songs on net.

HJ has written one song for Anandmath (1952), a Filmisyan production of famous novel by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.

Dil Ka Paimana Ho Ulfat Ka Hath Hai, Julfo Ka Badal Ho Jhumne Ki Raat Hai, Pine Ki Raat Hai – Anand Math (1952) – Rajkumari – Hemant Kumar

The stage is set for the king to entertain himself and his English sahibs.

Annadata (1952) has five songs from HJ’s pen, of which digital versions of G M Durrani- Shamshad duet and a Rafi-Shamshad- Lata- Meena Mangeshkar chorus songs are not yet uploaded on net. Three solos of Lata Mangeshkar are available on YT.

Baharo Ke Dole Me, Aayi Hai Jawani, Aayi Jawani, Aaj Apni Adao Pe Huyi Mai Diwani – Annadata (1952)- Lata Mangeshkar – Mohammad Shafi

Mohammad Shafi was considered to be a highly talented composer, who did not get the due favour from the lady luck of the commercial success. This song amply manifests Mohammad Shafi’s talents.

Badnaam (1952) had three songs to HJ’s account – two Lata solos and one Shankar Dasgupta solo. HJ has written songs for Basant Prakash for Nishan Danka and Saloni too in this year.

Yeh Ishq Nahin Asan – Badnaam (1952) – Shankar Dasgupta – Basant Prakash

Hamari Duniya has three songs of HJ, one solo each of Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt and Rajkumari. Geeta Dutt song does not seem to be have been posted on YT.

Raat Arman Ki Saji Hai – Hamari Duniya (1952) – Rajkumari – Shyam Babu Pathak

Jab Tak Chamke Chand Sitare, Tum Ho Hamare Saiya Hum Hai Tumhare, Apne Milan Ka Sath Na Chhute, Hatho Me Aake Sajni Hath Na Chhute – Neelam Pari (1952) – Geeta Dutt, G M Durrani – Khursheed Anwar

Neelam Pari had 4 of HJ’s songs.

Shrimatiji had HJ’s one solo.

Taqdir Ne Luta Mujhe Taqdir Ne Luta, Manjil Pe Lake Pyar Ne Begana Kar Diya – Shrimatiji (1952) – Geeta Dutt – Jimmy

Ek Dil Hazar Jhakhm Kaise Jee Sakenge Ham – Aag Ka Dariya (1953) – Talat Mahmood – Vinod

Anarkali was a landmark film, in so far as its songs are concerned.  Basant Prakash did compose one song and then all other songs were composed by C Ramchandra. Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra wrote two each and all other songs were written Rajendra Krishna.

Zindagi Bebas Hui Hai Beqasi Ka Sath Hai, Ek Ham Hai Is Qafas Me Ya Khuda Ki Zat Hai

O Asaman Wale Shikawa Hai Zindagi Ka …Sun Dastan Gam Ki Afasana Bebasi Ka

Both the songs are gems. So I would happily break the rule that we had set for ourselves and would most happily include the other song also as the penultimate song for our present episode.

Is Intezaar- e-Shauk Ko Janamo Ki Pyas Hai, Ik Shama Jal Rahi Hai To Wo Bhi Udas Hai

Muhabbat Aisi Dhadakan Hai Jo Samajhai Nahi Jaati

We have few more films in 1953 for which HJ has written lyrics for music directors other than Shanker Jaikishan. But, that is for the future journey.

We will end our present episode with the HJ song composed by R C Boral:

Humne To Dard-E-Dil Ko Tamanna Bana Liya – Dard-e-Dil (1953)

We will continue our search for Unforgettable Songs that seem to Fading away from our Memories every second Sunday of the month……..

Disclaimer: All images are sourced from net. All copyrights of the respective image remain with the original owner of the image.

Business Sutra |1.3 | Short Term Vs. Long Term

Business Sutra 1

Business Sutra |1| Corporations

In the opening part of the first episode of his TV serial, Business Sutra, Devdutt Pattanaik dwelt upon the subject of the Indian way of doing the business. The second part then dealt with purpose of the corporation.

In our present post, the third of the three parts of this first episode, we will have a detailed look at oft-discussed short-term vs. long-term view of the corporation and its purpose.

Business Sutra |1.3 | Short Term Vs. Long Term

This video gives us the basics of short-term (planning) and. long-term (goals.).

Some lightly told, but meaningful messages will also whet our appetite for the subject:

So, what is your long term goal?

When organizational leaders are asked if they think in the short term or in the long term, there is a pretty consistent answer: “Long term, of course” notes Dr. Gustavo Grodnitzky in his article Short Term vs. Long Term. … Long term thinking should create and sustain long term growth for all the stakeholders and by extension, community, society, and the environment), not just the shareholders. Rising water raises all ships. This is the model of social capitalism…Yet when we look closely at many organizations and their decision making process, it appears to be clearly short term thinking, too often driven by quarterly, “Wall Street” numbers, which focus on shareholder alone. This is a model of classic capitalism. 

The Long-Term Benefits Of Short-Term Thinking solidly puts forward the case for building up a sound business, if so required, by making good every short-term opportunity that comes up on the way up.

One of the most reported cause for such an approach is high volatility of the entire ecosystem over last couple of decades. In a (now) famous letter that BlackRock CEO Larry Fink had sent to CEOs of S&P 500 companies and large European corporations, he argues that today’s culture of quarterly earnings hysteria is totally contrary to the long-term approach we need. Over the long-term, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues – ranging from climate change to diversity to board effectiveness – have real and quantifiable financial impacts…At companies where ESG issues are handled well, they are often a signal of operational excellence.

Gus Levy, at Goldman Sachs, urges his people to “be long term greedy, not short term greedy.”

In their article – The Biology of Corporate Survival –  on HBR, Martin Reeves, Simon Levin, Daichi Ueda have conducted a survey to check the longevity of 30,000 pubic firms of America over last 50 years. The results are quite stark: Businesses are disappearing faster. They are of the opinion that this because hey are failing to adapt to the growing complexity of their environment. Many misread the environment, select the wrong approach to strategy, or fail to support a viable approach with the right behaviors and capabilities. The authors have compared business corporation with any other biological body, who survive (or don’t) on account of their inherent and adapted biological survival skill and strategy.

In an another article – Long-Termism Is Just as Bad as Short-Termism – on HBR, Ken Favaro cites Drucker: “He recognized that all companies face an inescapable reality: they must invest in their future if they are to have one, but they must also produce earnings today in order to pay for doing so. Moreover, you have to meet your previous promises of returns from investments made in the past in order to have the license to continue investing for the long term. You cannot sacrifice the short term for the long term and expect to have a future any more than the other way around. In other words, ‘long-termism’ is just as bad as ‘short-termism.’”

In “Short-Term or Long-Term: Where Do You Live?” Marshall Goldsmith provides us a model that shows five different modes of behavior and how they can characterize our relationship to any activity — either at work or at home:

  • Stimulating is for activities that score high in short-term satisfaction but low in long-term benefit. A life spent solely on stimulating activities could provide a lot of short-term pleasure but still be headed nowhere.
  • Sacrificing is for activities that score low in short-term satisfaction but high in long-term benefit. A life spent solely on sacrificing activities would be the life of a martyr — lots of achievement, but not much joy.
  • Surviving is for activities that score low on short-term satisfaction and low on long-term benefit. A life spent solely on surviving activities would be a hard one indeed.
  • Sustaining is for activities that produce moderate amounts of short-term satisfaction and lead to moderate long-term benefits. A life spent solely on sustaining activities would be an O.K. one — not great, yet not too bad.
  • Succeeding is a term for activities that score high on short-term satisfaction and high on long-term benefit. A life spent in succeeding is a life that is filled with both joy and accomplishment.

The perception of both short-term satisfaction and long-term benefit is dependent upon the individual engaged in the activity. If we cannot change our activities, then we can at least try to change our attitude toward them

So, one may conclude that –

Let us now look at what Devdutt Pattanaik has to say in Segment 3: Short Term Vs. Long Term from the point of view of Indian mythology.

Here are the key points from his present discourse:

One of the conflicts continuously in the creation and sustenance of systems of corporations really is the ability to balance shorter with long-term radius. Jack Welch has this to state:

When you look at mythology you know there is a God sustains the world – Vishnu. He is associated with two animals one is called Serpent (Sarpa) and other is Eagle (Grauda). Their way at looking at things is known as Serpent Vision (Sarpa Drishti) – the immediate goal – and Eagle Vision (Garuda Drishti) – the long sight – respectively.

Question is what should one focus first?

Right when you look at how the story of creation, the moment to they talk about creation they also talked about its destruction. They talk immediately about destruction, which means you don’t just talk about the building of the organization at the day it is begun. You also discuss how it’s going to die. It’s not assumed to be immortal because mortality is the universal truth and you are aware of it. You are discussing about mortality. When you say that okay if I’m going to be born and am going to die too, then how do I live a healthy and happy life? How long can I sustain?

As much as that applies to health, it applies to the organizations as well.

Unfortunately the way we are structured, we break it down into bits, into say, years. When you look at your lifespan over two years or three years and you have to win every year. You know I am not allowed to lose. So effectively, than the pressure is on the Serpent’s vision – at your shadow’s level. You have to keep winning every year, keep growing to be more and more profitable year in year out. We are told that that’s the measurement and that’s the reward. So, if I have to last for three years, I just make sure that I win each of the three years. I am not thinking of 30 years and 300 years.

The system, per force, unwittingly perhaps, is saying Serpent vision.

How do you correct that because you’re always going to have someone in charge for a limited period of time? They’re going to try and excel within that limited period of time, and therefore, for them, short-termism will always be the first goal to achieve as opposed to long-termism. We do understand that the ideal should be long-termism but not all of us can actually put that bill, in that sense.

In the case of health, you see you can’t escape the consequences. It is personal.

In an organization you can escape the consequences because perhaps you may not be around. Or that I may not be held responsible for doing what I did in good faith, for the good of the organization. Particularly in the case of a limited company, individual’s role is also limited. A shareholder tends to behave more like a moneylender and may create any type of pressures to get their returns. However, all employees would  not feel the direct, and equal,  consequences of his /her actions.

In a way, Short-termism breeds freedom from long-term consequences.

Interestingly this seems to make a case for family-owned businesses. For almost 10 years now in this country the phrase family-owned business is looked at with some amount of contempt. It is again a Western concept, that we have inherited over the past 20 30 40 years, that ideally an organization must have separation between ownership and management. It should be professionally run and it should be run for the benefit of all stakeholders as opposed to the benefit of the entrepreneur that may have started that organization. But, the problem is that if you’re going to have leaders that come in for limited periods of time, they’re going to be concerned with their immediate term. So, again back to the short-termism. But if you have organizations owned by families that will patronize these organizations, help them sustain, help them grow over generations over the long term. It is obvious that you’re making the case then for family-owned business a phrase that we looked down upon in some ways for the last 10 to 15 years.

As professionals, we’re using it again without context. Used anywhere anytime, if it’s professional it is good. What does the mean to be professional? It means – cut out emotions, be logical. So of the three goddesses (L,S,D) which 40,000 years have been celebrated, one, D (Durga, Shakti, Power), is out. That is the one thing that we crave for as human beings, we want to feel powerful and if I look at physiologically you’re seeing focus on the left brain, right brain is bad. Right brain is not good, focus on the left brain and that is good for the organization.

The problem with the family-owned business is that talks too much of the, emotional, right brain – my son is better or my son will not be better.

India is called Bharat. But we forget a story of the character whose name is Bharat. There are Bharats in mythology. But there is one very obscure story, which is amazing and is very interesting. It is about is the son of Shakuntala. He had many wives and many sons but he rejected all the sons and we don’t know why. He said he doesn’t look like me. That is the literal translation. But perhaps that is why, he then adopts, or is given by the god, a son, allegedly an illegitimate child, rejected by a spell, an orphan. He elevates him to be the heir.

If the story is decoded, basically being a king he rejected his own biological children in favor of a son who was good enough to rule. Remember, we are named after that man BhArat.

It is equal to meritocracy.

So that’s that-

In our next session next month, we will take up episode 2 of Devdutt Pattanaik’s TV serial Business Sutra viz. Leadership.

Note: The images used in this post are the irrevocable property of their respective creator. They have been taken up courtesy the internet, so as to illustrate the point under discussion.

The Micro View of the Songs of 1948 @ SoY : Setting The Stage

Wait for the curtains to go up for a review of songs for the particular year @ Songs of Yore is more than an eager wait. It is preganat with more unknown songs now.  Having covered songs of 1955, 1953, 1951, 1950 and 1949 in the previous years, SoY has now crossed the threshold well into the Vintage Era as it now ventures into ‘Best songs of 1948: And the winners are?’

As noted in the overview turnkey article, we now enter the period which has two quite distinct characteristics:

One, Lata Mangeshkar did sing over 40 songs of which you can count about ten memorable and a couple of all-time great songs, yet she was not the sole pole star, as she became from 1949 onwards. Therefore, dividing the female playback singers as Lata Mangehkar and ‘others’ as (has been) done for 1949, 1950 and 1951 would not be a true reflection of reality.

Secondly, the Vintage Era also means entering a period of more unknown than known, therefore, the year-wise review would now be more a discovery trip.

The post under consideration – Best songs of 1948: And the winners are?  – has presented quite an  encompassing overview in an established template: –

Musical landmarks: Like a golden Jubilee (Mela) and a silver Jubileen (Anokhi Ada) under the belt Naushad hasestablished his morchical position. His nearest rival C ramchandra has Nadiya Ke Paar and Kidkiin the year under review. Ghulam Hiader has presened his swan song on now the Indian soil – Shaheed. Raj Kapoor directs his maiden film Aag with Ram Ganguly as music director. Lata Mangeshkar has hardly any presence in these films.

Other important musical compositions are no less noteworthy nor have lost their charm. We will enlist them here –

Anil Biswas:

Gajre

Door papia bola – Suraiya
Baras baras badly bhi bikhar gayi – Lata Mangeshkar

Veena

Wo teekhi nazron se mere dil par – Mukes

Husnlal Bhagatram

Tere Naino Ne Chori Kiya – Suraiya

O Door Jaanewale – Suraiya

Khemchand Prakash

Marne Ki Duaen Kyon ManguN– Kisore Kumar’s maiden solo song – Ziddi

Chanda Re..Ja Re Ja Re – Lata Mangeshkar – Ziddi

Ghulam Haider

Grihasthi

Tere naaz uthane ko ji chahta hai – Mukesh & Shamshad Begum

Pugree

Ek teer chalanewale ne dil loot liya – Mukesh & Sitara (Kanpuri)

S D Burman

Vidya

Laayi khushi ki duniya – Mukesh & Suraiya

Bahe na kabhi nain se neer – Mukesh

Debut

Asha Bhosle – Only a line Bahana Khush Ho Ke Sangam Manaye – in a chorus in the song Sawaan Aya Re – Chunariya

Kishore Kumar’s first duet with Lata Mangeshkar – Ye Kaun Aya Re – Ziddi

Prem Dhawan – Chanda Re..Ja Re Ja Re – Ziddi

RK Films – Aag

Geeta Dutt – Lata Mangeshkar’s maiden duet – Har Shai Pe Jawani Hai – Majboor

Mukesh – Lata Mangeshkar duet – Ab Darne Ki Koi Baat Nahin – Majboor

Ab Yaad Na Kar – Ankoha Pyar

Khayyam (as Sharmaji & (Rehman) Vermaji with Aziz Khan) – Dil Dil Yun YuN Karata Hai – Geeta Dutt, Aziz Hindi – Heer Ranja

Lata Mangeshkar first song with Shamshad Begum and Mohantara – Khushiyan Manayen Na Kyun Ham.. Kismat Hamare Saath Hai.. Jalanewale Jala Karen – Khidki

Surinder Kaur – Itne Door Hain Huzoor Kaise – Pyar Ki Jeet

Padmini as dancer-actor in Uday Shankar’s Kalpana

S Mohinder – as music director in film Sehra and as a singer Ae dil Uda Ke – Sehra

Jaan Nissar Akhtar – as lyricist in Shikayat

Sahir Ludyanavi – as a lyricist for Badal Rahi Hai Zindagi – Azadi Ki Rah Par

Snehal Bhatkar – as a music director in Suhaag Raat

Bharat Bhushna and Geeta Bali – as actors in Suhag Raat

Fact file and Trivia notes that five songs of Meena Kapoor for Anokha Pyar were recorded on Lata Mangeshkar; Leela Chitnis played mother for first time in Shaheed; Mohammad Rafi holds a falg pole in Watan Ki Rah Mein Watan Naujawan Shaheed Ho; Ameerbai Karnataki composed music for Shahnaz, once only in her career; Vidya Nath Seth sang firve songs for Rooplelka of which he composed one song too.

List Of Memorable Songs is a fairly representative list of films, music directors and known as well as less-known songs that were released in the year. I have re-compiled this list, under the title Memorable Songs of 1948, by adding the relevant link to YT file.

For the year under review, Special songs also cover the songs which open a path of discovery on their own well as they have thir own personality. In this case too, I have brought these songs on the same page with List of Memorable Songs of 1948.

The stage is now set to commence our journey into the Micro View of the Songs of 1948. As the List of Memorable Songs and Special Songs have covered most of the well-known songs for the year, we will restrict our micro-view to in-depth listening of not-so-well-known songs. We will then combine our impressions of these songs with that we already have for the well-known ones to present our point of view in so far as

Best male playback singer
Best ‘other’ female playback singer
Best songs of Lata Mangeshkar
Best duets
Best music director

are concerned for the year 1948.

All the posts that will appear on this subject here have been tagged as Songs of 1948 @ SoY.