** Speaking of the Gods that dwell in the city, I suddenly remembered this one comedy & mimicry tape we used to listen to over and over again. Back in my college days, S had purchased some comedy cassette tapes by Johnny Lever. They were basically a recording of his stage shows.
I remember in particular this one sketch he did. It related to an incident which happened sometime in the late 70’s. There was a global fear about the impending crash of Skylab (a US space station).
Now the central character of this sketch essayed by Lever was a man called Gafoorbhai. As the name suggests, Gafoorbhai was a Bhai. Not only that, he was a psychic of sorts (no doubt helped by that fact that he was a charsi – that’s a dopehead for those of y’all stumped by the slang) whose visions were taken pretty seriously by people around him.
So around the time when the Skylab scare was running wild with fresh rumours everyday about where it would crash, it came to pass that Bombay could/would be its point of impact.
So when asked by one of his so-called followers whether Skylab would indeed crash in Bombay, Gafoorbhai without hesitation says a firm and resounding No.
GB says it might fall anywhere in the world but it will not fall in Bumbey (yup that is how he called it). “Meri baat sun na… main bhi Scienticity hoon… Eskeelab ho... kiski bhi lab ho... woh kahin pe bhi gir jaye, Bumbay mein nahi girega.”
Follower: “but O Wise One, how can you be so sure??”
Gafoorbhai confidently replies, “kyun ki Bumbey mein pehra hai” (because Bombay is under constant vigil)
And he goes onto explain, “See, on the southern side, in the middle of the sea, there is Haji Ali, towards the centre you have the divinity of Siddhivinayak and as you head towards the north there is the benevolent protection of Mother Mary. So with guardians like that, there is no way anything could ever happen to this city.”
To Gafoorbhai’s Divine Trinity – Some help right now would be nice. Seriously.
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4 comments:
I am so sorry that your city is going through all this. I am sitting and watching the news and feeling sick to my stomach seeing what has happened to my country, but I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to you.
Is hard to have faith at a time like this, but just have to remember that faith is usually that - without basis. Still has a point to it.
yeah... gotta hold onto something right?!
i actually felt like i had been the biggest hypocrite. i watched the news and i felt bad, but nowhere near as bad as i felt when i read your post.i said i don't want to believe that a god who makes things like this happen doesn't exist. now i think different. and yeah, like somebody said, when you ask for courage, god doesn't make you all brave, he gives you opportunities. so.
maybe this is one of them
keep holding on...
I like that quote Sia. I think at some level most Indians are fatalists and these 'incidents' only reinforce that.
We've seen a lot in the past and it'd be foolish not to consider atleast the possibility of something like this happening in the future as well.
But in the end, as Aurora says, faith is the only thing that will make you get up in the morning and head to work using that same local train system, wine and dine your clients, friends and family in those 5 star hotels and basically try to live a life sans fear...
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