May 2021 – The world is too small? or Is it?

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – May 2021

Welcome to May 2021 edition of IX^th Volume of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We pay our tribute to Vanraj Bhatia who left for heavenly abode on 07.05.2021.

Vanraj Bhatia dies at 93, He was best known for the music of films such as Ankur, 36 Chowringhee Lane and TV show Tamas, has passed away at the age of 93. The veteran music composer was battling poor health and financial constraints.

‘An Indian film without songs is meaningless’ – Jyoti Punwani draws memories from her interviews with the legendary composer – Vanraj Bhatia himself explained what made his music so unique…. “The first duty of music is to express the film’s texture, and the second is to be able to stand on its own feet. It must be absolutely perfect,” he said…. “When I compose, I make the music matter in the film, even if the director pushes it into the background. Like my teacher would say, you must speak the same language as everybody else, but infinitely better.”

When Vanraj Bhatia asked me to mail his opera DVD and resume to the world’s major opera houses – Luis Dias – In an interview in early 2013, the great music composer professed to me his love affair with opera and shared his earnest hopes.

Night Music for Solo Flute (Rachel Woolf) by Vanraj Bhatia

Legacy Of The Enigmatic Vanraj Bhatia – Sunil Sampat – On the occasion of a felicitation of Bhatia at the NCPA in March 2017, Zakir Hussain said, “Vanraj Bhatia is India’s greatest ever composer. Period.”

Vanraj Bhatia’s extraordinary, multi-faceted oeuvre – Ranjit Hoskote – The composer’s transcultural experiments were always intense and persuasive.

I have always liked Vanraj Bhatia’s interview with Irfan, of Rajya Sabha TV – Guftagoo with Vanraj Bhatia for his candid views. The song that Vanraj Bhatia refers to @22.48 is Barse Ghan Saari Raat – Tarang (1984) – Lata Mangeshkar – Vanraj Bhatia – Raghuvir Sahay

It’s a long narrative number describing a deserted wife’s desolation. About the song, Lataji recalls, “It was one of the most difficult and complex songs of my career. [Ref: Vanraj Bhatia’s CHALLENGE for Lata Mangeshkar – SUBHASH K JHA]. The story that is connected with the song is also narrated by Harish Bhimani in In Search of Lata Mangeshkar’ (1955, Harper-Collins, ISBN 81-7223-183-0) – excerpted as hereunder, as a footnote on page 102 – “Composer Vanraj Bhatia rushed in excitedly….exclaiming, “(Lata) Bai stayed back yesterday to listen to my recording !”……”….The intent of this passage is that Lata Mangeshkar, who never waited to check back on her recording, was keen to know how the song was recorded.

We now move on to other tributes and memories:

The Masters: Majrooh Sultanpuri – Majrooh’s simple turns of phrase expressed the most profound emotions. With more than 6,000 songs in over 300 films to his credit, Majrooh’s poetry traversed the gamut from the soulfully romantic to philosophical, cynical and devotional.

Remembering Bulo C Rani who debuted as independent music director in Pagli Duniya (1944).

Remembering Naushad: The music director beyond compare – Ajay Mankotia – Naushad passed away on May 5, 2006 – 15 years ago. But old masters never die. The music lovers and connoisseurs still adore him.

India’s DeMille: Remembering Mehboob Khan on his 57th death anniversary – Shaikh Ayaz – We know him as the ambitious maker behind Bollywood’s greatest ode to Indian womanhood (1957’s Mother India) and perhaps as the founder of Mumbai’s iconic Mehboob Studio. But Mehboob Khan was more than that.

‘Teesri Kasam’ was the perfect meeting of minds between Phanishwarnath Renu and Shailendra – Phaniswarnath Renu had named his youngest daughter Waheeda Rehman, after the actor who played the lead in Teesri Kasam.

Dattaram Part 1: Under the shadow of big banyan tree with songs of Mukesh and Manna Dey – Even as several of Dattaram;s songs with Mukesh and Manna Dey have had large following, Dattaram was not limited Mukesh And Manna Dey.

Kaif Irfani – A Forgotten name – Here is his very popular, romantic song Dil Tujhe Diya Tha Rakhane Ko – Malhar (1951) Mukesh / Music – Roshan

Shailendra Sharma @ Golden Era of Bollywood has posted following memorial tribute posts:

Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s story is as much about friendship as it is about their tunes – Ganesh Vancheeswaran – The 1963 B grade film, Parasmani set the tone for an unprecedented 35-year-long run for Laxmikant-Pyarelal, in which they offered 3,000-odd songs they composed in about 500 films.

Pyarelal (left) and Laxmikant. Courtesy Rajeshwari Laxmikant.

Ban Mein Bahar Aa Gayee, Man Mein Umang Chaa Gayi – Balwant Singh was born in 1918.He got his break aas a singer, for Bomaby Talkies’ film Jeevan Prabhat (1937).. Here is his duet with Devika Rani from the film – Tum Meri Tum Mere Saajan (Music – Saraswati Devi = Lyrics: J S Kashyap).

Digging (Into) the ’60s and early ’70s Songs of Usha Uthup/Iyer – Usha Uthup has a very special voice as far as Indian film singers go, a bit lower and thicker even than many western female singers’, and it often has a certain unusually appealing hoarseness too. before she sang in Hare Rama Hare Krishna for R.D. Burman, she got a role singing as part of a Shankar-Jaikishan soundtracks in Bombay Talkie (1971) – Hari Om Tat Sat and Good Times and Bad Times..

May 2021 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs takes up Manna Dey – Chale Ja Rahein Hai…. 1954 – 1955. Till now we have covered his songs for the year(s)

1942 – 1946 in our 2018 issue,

1947-1950 in the 2019 episode, and

1951 – 1953 in the 2020 episode.

When Rafi sang for Hanuman, Manna for Ravan… – On the legendary Manna Dey’s 102nd birth anniversary, Subhash K Jha traced an interview he had done with Mannada way back in 1997.

We now move on to songs on other subjects –

Romantic Songs with a Third Person – These are songs where apart from the couple in love, there is someone else in the frame – either obtrusively or unobtrusively

Here’s A Vintage Pic Of Raj Kapoor And Wife Krishna –

From Bollywood Rewind – Sampada Sharma – Indian Express’s weekly column:

Sharada: Of love that is beyond labels – Starring Meena Kumari and Raj Kapoor, LV Prasad’s Sharada is the kind of romance that makes you question your understanding of love, and how meaningful relationships can exist, even with the strangest labels.
Awara: Of nature vs nurture – Starring Raj Kapoor, Nargis and Prithviraj, Awara is set in an era where climbing out of the vicious cycle of poverty was near impossible, and strangely enough, times haven’t changed much in the last 70 years.

The Catch-22 Songs which juxtapose options and thus, present dilemmas. Some are frivolous whereas the others are weighty.

Composers sing for themselves: Ten songs are the songs where a composer actually recorded—and it was included in the film in question—a song in his/her own voice

Anand Bakshi on his legacy as a film lyricist: ‘My songs will beat just as our heart beats’ – An excerpt from a biography, Nagme, Kisse, Baatein, Yaadein – The Life & Lyrics of Anand Bakshi, Rakesh Anand Bakshi, Penguin Random House India, of the songwriter whose career in Hindi cinema spanned six decades.

Rabindra Sangeet in Films: 10 Songs – Sankhayan Ghosh presents a range of songs, from the obvious to the not-so-obvious to the innovative.

Regional Star, Hindi Also-Ran: Ten Actors, Ten Songs –who, for some reason or the other, never could make it big in Hindi cinema.

‘क्या भूलूँ क्या याद करूँ’ – a journey into what one wants to forget and what to remember.

In continuation to our tradition of ending the post with a few songs of Mohammad Rafi, each one of which basically has a link with the topics discussed in the present post.

Tum Hase To Gam Sharmaya – Dana Pani (1953) – with Shamshad Begum – Mohan Junior – Kaif Irfani

Aate Jaate Aankh Bachana ..Haye Re Tera Jawaab Nahin – Mehbooba (1954) – with Shamshad Begum – OP Nayyar – Majrooh Sultanpuri

Mujhe Jag Ki Bana De Malika, Phir Malik Ban Mere Man Ka – Dark Street (1961) – with Suman Kalyanpur – Dattaram – Gulshan Bawra

Shokhiyan Nazar Mein Hain – Aasra (1966) – Laxmikant Pyarelal – Annad Bakshi

I look forward to your inputs to enrich the contents of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

Disclaimer: This monthly series of posts is my best-effort-based compilation of posts on Hindi film songs that I normally visit regularly. As I record my sincere thanks to all the original creators of these posts, any other posts that I have nor covered herein shows my lack of awareness of existence of such posts and is by no means any disrespect to their work. The copyrights to the posts, images and video clips remain the properties of the original creators.

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – May 2021

Welcome to May 2021 edition of the IX^thvolume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We recapitulate that the 2021 theme for the IX^thvolume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

We base our discussion on the subject for the present episode on A TED talk, Back to the future (1994), from the playlist The history of the future. In the talk, Danny Hillis outlines an intriguing theory of how and why technological change seems to be accelerating, by linking it to the very evolution of life itself. The presentation techniques he uses may look dated, but the ideas are as relevant as ever…. In essence, the talk has this to state on its key theme of accelerating changes –

The humanity has started abstracting out. We’re going through the same levels that multi-cellular organisms have gone through — abstracting out our methods of recording, presenting, processing information….In the process, we have speeded up time scales. The process is feeding on itself and becoming autocatalytic. The more it changes, the faster it changes.

There is an equally strong school of thought that thinks otherwise.

‘If the pace of change really were unprecedented, then conventional wisdom holds we’d better darn well slow it down, so no one gets hurt. Either way, the commentators warn, “buckle up.” Here is one, by Alvin Toffler in 1970.:

‘ “It has become a cliché to say that what we are now living through is a “second industrial revolution.” This phrase is supposed to impress us with the speed and profundity of the change around us. But in addition to being platitudinous, it is misleading. For what is occurring now is, in all likelihood, bigger, deeper, and more important than the industrial revolution. Indeed, a growing body of reputable opinion asserts that the present movement represents nothing less than the second great divide in human history, comparable in magnitude only with that first great break in historic continuity, the shift from barbarism to civilization”.

‘Why have people long believed that their eras were unprecedented when it came to the rate of change? There are two reasons. First, at least today, it is hard to get attention if you say that “there’s nothing new here, at least in terms of the pace of change.” Second, it’s simply human nature. Most of us overestimate change in a few things around our lives and ignore most of the rest that changes very slowly, if at all.

‘None of this is to say that technology-driven change isn’t happening. Of course it is—and it’s making our lives much better. But the pace of change appears to be no faster than in prior eras, and just as economies did fine despite Luddite impulses then, ours will do fine now. So, let’s all take a deep breath and say together: “Technological change is not accelerating, but it would sure be nice if it would.” ‘[1]

Scott Brinker has formulated Martec’s Law, which states, Technology changes exponentially, organizations change logarithmically…..there have been hundreds of best-selling books written on the difficulties of personal and organizational change. Empirically, the limit of change for humans is less than linear. In other words, it’s not feasible for an organization to change faster than that. But it’s certainly possible for an organization to change more slowly — or not at all. In fact, in the absence of good leadership, stagnation seems like the default outcome. But even with great leadership, an organization can’t win by outracing technology. It needs a more nuanced strategy….In A.G. Lafley’s book, Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, he drives home the point that strategy is choice. It’s decisively choosing to do certain things and to not do others….That is the crux of technology management. We can’t adopt all technological changes, but we can consciously choose some. Great technology management is choosing which changes to absorb — ideally those that are best aligned with the organization’s overall strategy….In the graph, it’s intentionally deciding what’s in (the red shaded area) and what’s out (the blue shaded area)….. To succeed, technology management must explicitly address how those technologies will be absorbed into the operations and the culture of the organization.

A successful tech-enabled transformation requires organizations to make progress on several paths simultaneously. … Only by following a structured, comprehensive playbook can companies translate their transformation priorities from strategy to action. A two-step methodology supported by several enablers can provide companies with the direction, priorities, and organizational capabilities to maximize the value of such investments. Indeed, companies that took a comprehensive approach to their transformation generated more than twice as much value as organizations focused solely on technology improvements. [2]

Charlie Feld, in his article, Change Management: Leading Through Technology Changes, states: There are three major competencies that great IT leaders need in order to get the lay of the changing landscape: pattern recognition, technical savvy and street smarts.

One may tend to conclude that one should consciously map the change and act in accordance with the organization’s long-term strategy of maintain its competitive advantage.

We will now turn to our regular sections:

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we refresh our viewpoints about–

The Quality Professional’s Changing Workplace – This episode investigates how the global pandemic and digital transformation are changing the quality professional’s workplace.

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month:

Commit to Improvement – Most continuous improvement programs are treated as the latest management fad; therefore, people look at it as just another “program of the month” being pushed by management. …This is not the way the organization conducts its other business. In fact, the continuous improvement effort is often at odds with the existing processes and metrics, so it is destined to limp along on its way to mediocrity and eventual failure…. Continuous improvement is more about rigor and discipline than it is about technique.

‘From the Editor (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have

Rules: Good or Bad? – English actor and author Alan Bennett once said, “We started off trying to set up a small anarchist community, but people wouldn’t obey the rules.” … We equate rules with the difference between order and chaos. We often, quite negatively, associate rules as being an obstacle to success. …Depending on your perspective, those seen breaking the rules are either bad people or trailblazers and pioneers…These quotes express more accurately captures the essence— “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist” (Pablo Picasso ) or “Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.” (the Dalai Lama)…. Although much has changed in the last year and the near future can look a little daunting, understanding the rules of before, what is happening now, and how it may affect us moving forward is always good practice.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

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

[1] Technology Feels Like It’s Accelerating—Because You’ve Been Watching Too Many TED Talks – Robert D. Atkinson

[2] Accelerating the impact from a tech-enabled transformation By Venkat Atluri, Aamer Baig, and Satya Rao

The Eponymous Principles of Management – Putt’s Law

The Putt’s Law, formulated by Archibald Putt, in 1981, apparently can be seen as applicable to the technology world. But if one can see beyond the obvious, it is as universally applicable as two other laws – The Peter Principle and The Dilbert Principle- that we have looked into in so far as the issue competence (or incompetence) is concerned! Like such laws and the books that contain these full-grown discussions on the concerned eponymous management principles, the first reading is a matter of sheer joy of a reading humorous satirical book. However, more of what is written sinks in, one starts feeling more serene, as one starts realizing that what is being discussed there is right here, all around, each one of us.

Archibald Putt himself is an accomplished technocrat in a high-technology company. During his work, he has got opportunity to closely analyze the hierarchical intricacies of the high-technology or R& D or advance project management fields. In the first of a series of papers[1] published in Research & Development journal, in 1976, his tenet was that only way to avoid Peter’s level of incompetence syndrome was to create creative incompetence – a high level of incompetence in some area that does not affect one’s present performance but does assure there will be no further offers of promotion. Unlike hierarchies in other fields, creative incompetence is the rule rather than the exception in hierarchies in science and technology. As a result, many low-level positions remain staffed by competent persons who never reach their level of incompetence. However, as is the case in general, successful technocrat would not like to be chained down by the limited ambitions and vision. Any normal (successful) person would aspire for the position of eminence in a technical hierarchy.

The matter is further compounded by the real-life situations when frequently there is no way to judge whether individual is competent or incompetent to hold a given position. In other words, there is no adequate competence criterion for technical managers. In complex technological projects, the outcome of the project is most strongly affected by preexisting but unknown technological factors over which the project manager has no control. In many a case, the goals or objectives are set even before a manager is chosen.

The lack of an adequate competence criterion combined with the frequent practice of creative incompetence in technical hierarchies results in a competence inversion, with the most competent people remaining near the bottom while persons of lesser talent rise to the top. It also provides the basis for Putt’s Law, which can be stated in an intuitive and non-mathematical form as follows:

Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.

Archibald Putt put his observation in these papers in more detailed and organised form in a book ‘Putt’s Law and the Successful Technocrats’ in the year 1981. The book presented more than one law and more than one corollary to each law. The book was revised in 2006 as ‘Putt’s Law and the Successful Technocrats – How to Win in the Information Age [ISBN: 978-0-471-78893-5; February 2006; Wiley-IEEE Press; 184 Pages]. Since all the laws and the ensuing corollaries were still valid, none these was dropped in the new addition. However there several more additions. The most significant additions relate to advances in information technologies that have changed forever the way people work and interact with each other. New analyses, first revealed in this edition, will be valuable to all who aspire to win in the Information Age. The new revision also includes recently developed Method of Rational Exuberance, which practically guarantees a rapid rise in management. The revised edition also answers the often-asked question, “Can Putt’s Law be broken?”

The book is divided into five parts[2] –

Part One, “Putt’s Primer,” is an introduction to the guidelines needed to succeed in technological hierarchies.
Part Two, “The Successful Technocrat,” consists of 11 chapters that present the tale of I. M. Sharp, who went from being an average high school student to being a successful technocrat.
Part Three, “Basic Putt,” consists of seven chapters that introduce a methodology that technologists can use in the management of high technology projects.
Part Four, “Advanced Topics,” consists of six chapters that explain how to select projects, evaluate ideas, and thrive in a technological organization.
Part Five, “Putt’s Canon,” consists of three chapters that summarize all the laws, corollaries, rules, and precepts presented in the book, serving as an excellent reference.

The author also states in his Preface to the book that ‘some scholarly types have suggested that the writings in this book should be viewed merely as humorous satire. Holding that view can inhibit the success of an otherwise competent technocrat. It is not the view of many successful technocrats who studied and used the lessons of the book. While winning the game, they laughed just as often as others, especially on the way to the bank.’

As we end this discourse, it would be interesting to note that ‘Archibald Putt’ is a pseudonym, whose actual identity is still not revealed. He has served on government advisory committees, managed basic and applied research, and held executive positions in a large multinational corporation. He received his PhD degree from a leading institute of technology and has served as president of an international technical society.

+ + + +

For such a talented person, we cannot expect that he has adopted this pseudonym without any purpose. Therefore, some more search is called for.

The Archibald of Archibald Putt can be seen to yield different meanings. The dictionary meaning of Archibald is ‘distinguished and bold.’ And Putt is a gentle stroke that hits a golf ball across the green towards the hole. So, one meaning of Archibald Putt is a gentle push by a distinguished and bold noble man! It is clearly redundant to say that such a gentle push by distinguished and bold person can resonate many times more effectively than any amount of roof-top shouting.

References in English Language and Usage give more interesting insights[3] :

The Online Etymology Dictionary explains: – British World War I military slang for “German anti-aircraft fire” (1915) supposedly is from black humor of airmen dodging hostile fire and thinking of the refrain of a popular music hall song, “Archibald, certainly not!”

This source quotes Ernest Weekly’s An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (1921) with an alternative explanation: – “It was at once noticed at Brooklands [where much aviation development and testing was carried out prior to 1914, and portrayed in the film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines] that in the vicinity of, or over, water or damp ground, there were disturbances in the air causing bumps or drops to these early pioneers. Some of these ‘remous’ were found to be permanent, one over the Wey river, and another at the corner of the aerodrome next to the sewage-farm. Youth being fond of giving proper names to inanimate objects, the bump near the sewage-farm was called by them Archibald. As subsequently, when war broke out, the effect of having shell bursting near an aeroplane was to produce a ‘remous’ reminding the Brookland trained pilots of their old friend Archibald, they called being shelled ‘being Archied’ for short. Any flying-man who trained at Brooklands before the war will confirm the above statement”.

Aside: If interested in this matter more, please read “Archibald, Certainly Not!”: Words and Weapons no.4

If we take this background of ‘Archibald’ then, Archibald Putt would mean a gentle push by an anti-aircraft gun, which is marvelous tongue-in-cheek oxymoron. In the present case, it serves the purpose of the author who also putts the fire power of his tenets like the famed accuracy of German anti-aircraft fire.

[1] ‘The Successful Technocrat’ – a series of papers by Archibald Putt in Research and Development journal in 1976

[2] Putt’s Law – A book review

[3] Why is German anti-aircraft fire called “Archibald”?

Fading Memories…. Unforgettable Songs: May 2021

Manna Dey – Chale Ja Rahein Hai…. – 1954 – 1955

Manna Dey, a.k.a. Prabodh Chandra Dey, (1 May 1919 – 24 October 2013) had sang more than 4000 songs in all languages. He has had some phenomenally successful romantic songs with almost all major actors of his times. But the lady luck seemed to bend upon ensuring him a ‘next-best’ place to him. The Hindi film industry considered Manna Dey too good for his own good. And in an industry once you are cast in a die, you remain stuck to that mold.

We commenced an annual series – Chale Ja Rahen Hai, from 2018 wherein we focused on remembering his relatively less heard songs on this platform. As has been our practice, we commenced our journey from the beginning of his singing career and have been progressing forwards in the chronological order. Till now we have covered his songs for the year(s)

1942 – 1946 in our 2018 issue,

1947-1950 in the 2019 episode, and

1951 – 1953 in the2020 episode.

In the present episode, we will take up his les heard songs for the year 1954 and 1955. As far as possible, we have studiedly avoided his songs from the mythological films.

Even after success of Awara (1951) and Boot Polish and Do Beegha Zamin (both 1953), the flow of non-romantic songs has not ebbed during the year 1954.

Shamo Sahar Hai Sahar Hi Sahar – Danka (1954) – with Asha Bhosle and chorus – Aziz Hindi – Arshi Ajmeri

This is an inspirational song, one more of a genre for which Manna Dey was to be typecast.

Jhini Jhini Re Bhini Chadaria – Mahatma Kabir (1954) – Anil Biswas – Kabir (Traditional)

Anil Biswas has imparted his own touch to this traditional bhajan.

Sangeet Hi Shakti Iswar Ki … Bhagat Ke Bas Mein Hai Bhagwan, Mango Milega Sab Ko Daan – Shabab (1954) – Naushad – Shakeel Badayuni

This again is bhajan, set to semi-classical tune. Naushad, in a rare use of Manna Dey’s voice, has used Manna Dey’s voice quality to a telling effect.

Jati Jati Hai … Aaj Naiya Meri…. Nila Hai Akash Dharati Hari – Baadbaan (1954) – Timir Baran S K Pal – Uddhav Kumar

We have selected this song over more traditional bhajan, Jai Deva Ho (with Asha Bhosle), because it being based on a Bengali folk tune.

Ye Jag Rain Basera Bande, Na Tera Na Mera – Ilzaam (1954) – Madan Mohan – Rajinder Krishna

We have a film from Madan Mohan’s early part of the career.

A singer is seen passing on the road singing this song. However, that voice has struck some chord with Meena Kumari, who runs after the singer.

As such, we see even a relatively new entrant like Madan Mohan too using Manna Dey for such ‘niche’ song.

1955 had two another great success to Manna Dey’s credit – Shree 420 and Seema. Each of Dil Ka Haal Sune Dilwala, Pyar Hua Ikrar Hua and Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh represented a different genre and Manna Dey as Raj Kapoor was playback, as well as singer, was hugely popular in each of these songs. Tu Pyar Ka Sagar Hai can be classified as prayer, for which Manna Dey was already in the process of being typecast. So, the great success of the song only went ton to fortify the strength of the cast.

Murli Manohar Krishna Kanhaiya, Jamuna Ke Tat Par Viraje Hai – Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955) – With Ustad Amir Khan Saheb, Lata Mangeshkar – Vasant Desai – Diwan Sharar

Vasant Desai Has been using Manna Dey’s voice for a variety of songs. The present song is a semiclassical piece that has been used as a dance song. Manna Dey sings @ 4.48, for Gopikrishna who plays Krishna in this dance song.

The film had several more of Manna Dey songs. Of these, Mere Aye Dil Bata can be considered to be leaning towards romantic genre, while Gurur Brahma…. Rut Basant Aayi Ban-Ban Upvan has more classical base even when the base feeling is that of Romance.

The music of the film was indeed highly successful, but that success was normally considered as an add-on to the over success of the film. So, neither Vasant Desai or even singers could make much of this success into far-reaching commercial success.

Chal Chal Paani Hamari Zindgani, Ye Chal Ke Rukna Jane Na – Amanat (1955) – with Asha Bhosle – Salil Chaudhury – Shailendra

Here too we have not considered a vicarious song, Chet Re Murakh Chet Re Avsar Bita Jaaye….Re Murarkh Tu Kya Jaane, filmed on an alms-seeking old man and his young companion couple . Such songs typically contain a message for the main character in the film.

The present song represents typical small celebrations in in a poor rural rea. Manna Dey comes in with alaap @1.40 and then takes over the next stanza on behalf of a village tradesman.

Aan Milo Aan Milo Shyam Sawarey – Devdas (1955) – with Geeta Dutt – S D Burman – Sahir Ludhyanavi

Here we have typical example of Manna Dey not being used as main singer in the film. In fact, he along with Geeta Dutt, seem to have been selected because the song is based on Baul Bengali folk tune.

Saajan Ki Ho Gayee Gouri – Devdas (1955) – with Geeta Dutt – S D Burman – Sahir Ludhyanavi

This is song which is being rendered by the same Boul singers as in the previous song, but Paro has now grown as an adult. The songs reflect the feelings of adult Paro, in the song by these singers. Manna Dey and Geeta Dutt very deftly reflect the mood the song.

Hosh Me Aa O Murakh Bandey – Kundan (1955) – Ghulam Mohammad Shakeel Badayuni

This essentially a background song which leaves a vicarious inspirational message to the key protagonist. That seems to be the reason why Ghulam Mohammad, who has not used Manna Dey much, seems to have leaned towards choosing Manna Dey as playback voice for the song.

Ha Main Lanka Naresh …. Mere Dus Hai Shis – Insaniyat (1955) – with Mohammad Rafi – C Ramchandra – Rajinder Krishna

Here again Manna Dey sings for a character that plays Ravan in the is belle. The song has Agha in the focus, but he lip-syncs playback of Mohammad Rafi.

Naino Me Neer Liye, Hriday Mein Peer Liye – Oonchi Haveli (1955) – Shivaram Krishna – Bharat Vyas is again a background genre song for which I could not locate a YT link.

Similarly, Bharat Mata Ke Laadlo Mein Hove Na Ladai – Teen Bhai (1955) – with Laxmi Shankar – Arun Kumar – Bharat Vyas is an interesting composition, which is based on Baul folk music, deriving its main message form A Ramayana episode.

Manna Dey is his usual best even in these non-romantic songs. It seems that perhaps it was this versatility that led him to be cast a niche-singer who was perceived as being too versatile for the lead actor who was supposed to sing songs on the screen that common man on the street can also easily sing.

For Manna Dey fans, these songs are a treat to remember and for others these offer a glimpse of hidden treasure of Manna Dey’s songs

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

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

The Eponymous Principles of Management – The Dilbert Principle

Scott Adams launched his Dilbert comic strips in 1989 in a handful newspapers. The immediate fad of ‘downsizing’ fueled the success of the strip. As result, Scott Adams left his job and took up Dilbert comic strip as his full-time cartoonist occupation. Dilbert is that beloved engineer in Scott Adam’s wry observations, of managerial blunders, oversights, and plain weird behaviour. at the modern workplace in his comic strip of the same name. Dilbert is a typical, trapped in a cubicle cog, working for an unnamed tech company. Dilbert and his coterie of co-workers are tormented by the bottom-line blindness of accounting, the cruelty of human resources, the vacuity of marketing, and, above all, the clueless whims of management, personified by a nameless “pointy-haired” boss.

With such an unflattering view of business, Adams is often deemed an “anti-management guru.” But he has struck a powerful chord in the business world.

In the Dilbert strip of February 5, 1995, Dogbert states that “leadership is nature’s way of removing morons from the productive flow”. This is the cornerstone of Scott Adams Dilbert Principle, which is derived from the huge fan-mail emanating from the real-life experiences of his large fan-following.

Scott Adams explained his principle in a 1995 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article^[1]. Scott Adams then expanded his study of the Dilbert principle in the form of a book, Dilbert Principle, The: A Cubicle’s-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions.^[2]

The principle is stated as “companies tend to systematically promote their least-competent employees to management (generally middle management), in order to limit the amount of damage they are capable of doing.”

The Dilbert Principle is related to the Peter Principle. In the case of Peter Principle, Peters promoted because of their competence in the present roles, find themselves, ultimately, in a situation where they are no more competent in the new role. Instead, the Dilbert Principle seems to promote incompetent employees (though it works toward the employees’ detriment), to a position where they are no longer blocking the productive workflow of the company.

In effect, The Dilbert Principle assumes that “the majority of real, productive work in a company is done by people lower in the power ladder”. In the WSJ article referred here before, Scott Adams remarks that “Your heart surgeons and your computer programmers—your smart people—aren’t in management. …That principle was literally happening everywhere.” (😐)

The Peter Principle realizes that someone particularly competent in one role may not necessarily be s competent in another role, particularly at higher positions. Fully recognising that requirements for each role is extremely specific, one can not be expected to have natural or previously acquired skills to be competent in the new role. The Dilbert Principle seems to recognise such situations and seeks to move such ‘incompetent’ people to a place where they can do the least possible harm to the organization’s interests. In other words, rather than ‘promoting’ them as a reward for the meritorious work, they are quietly placed in the least damaging roles. An earlier formulation of this effect was known as Putt’s Law (which we take up next).

Fortunately, all organizations are not necessarily similar to the Dilbert-workplace, as can be seen in the case of one documented exception of Malden Mills^[3]. However, we do not want to enter into a debate whether ‘modern’ workplaces indeed reflect these “laws” truly. But the as one reads these books, whatever be his (or her) position, one does identify oneself with (good or bad or ugly) effects of these ‘laws’.

On the whole, these book(s) have always turned out be good reading, and quite insightful (if you can see through beyond the veil of satire).

[1] Reprinted without permission from The Wall Street Journal, 5/22/95@ The Humor Library

[2] Book Review – The Dilbert Principle by The Amateur Financier

[3] They Call Their Boss a Hero