By Rajdeep Pathak
Waking up in the morning of Wednesday April 29 was not usually pleasant. The presence of the pandemic wasn’t new any more. The hand automatically reached for the TV remote to hear the headlines and all the channels had the same tale to tell – the inevitable had happened – the ominous news of the death of this naturalist actor had shaken all of us. We all knew he was battling with cancer for some time. Irrfan Khan’s health has been fragile since. News soon poured in that the actor had also lost his mother on April 25 (Saturday), but could not travel to Jaipur owing to the nationwide lockdown.
The actor was last seen in Angrezi Medium, which hit theatres right before cinemas were shut down. Though the film marked his return to Bollywood after the illness, the actor could not attend the promotions as he was ill. Instead, his voice note was played to address the crowd in such events. And social media was flooded with the voice note after the news of his death.
What he said in that voice note is so poignant and a takeaway for all of us. Referring to the adage, ‘When life gives you a lemon, you make a lemonade’, the actor smilingly remarked that in reality when life hands over this lemon to you, it becomes very difficult to make a lemonade and continued that in such situations, there’s no choice but to remain positive. The voice note ended with a message that still haunts “Wait for me…”
The truth is that the void that he has left behind will be difficult to be compensated. He has been an actor par excellence with not just the choice of his films, but characterising each role with gravity and an inherent sense of humour. He spoke with his eyes.
While we were still discussing – not yet recovering – the prowess of Irrfan’s acting skills, Thursday, April 30 began with the news that the original chocolate boy of Bollywood Rishi Kapoor died in Mumbai’s H N Reliance hospital. The actor was also battling with cancer.
Video of the late actor expressing his solidarity to the field workers, doctors and others — after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal on March 22 — went viral on Thursday leaving millions of his fans in tears. Rishi Kapoor had last tweeted on April 2 appealing people to work together to win against coronavirus. His tweet read: “An appeal.. Folded hands to all brothers and sisters from all social status and faiths. Please don’t resort to violence, stone throwing or lynching. Doctors, Nurses, Medics, Policemen, etc… are endangering their lives to save you. We have to win this Coronavirus war together. Please. Jai Hind!”
There was a time when our grandparents would know the Kapoor family – not from close quarters though – but they would regale us with stories of the Kapoor family in a manner that we felt they were our some distant relatives. It was said that after a huge financial loss Raj Kapoor had incurred after Mera Naam Joker (1970) he did not leave his dream and went ahead with the directorial venture of Bobby (1973), where he cast his then adult son Rishi Kapoor as the protagonist in this average budgeted movie. The film went on to become a super hit. Rishi Kapoor was launched and he went on to play the romantic lead in 92 films between 1973 and 2000 and was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
As the sun set in the horizon on April 30, the streets and by-lanes of old Delhi and few other places in the capital city echoed in a mournful cry as their beloved story-teller and historian, octogenarian Ronald Vivian Smith or R V Smith (in picture) passed into eternity. One of greatest Delhi’s chroniclers, Smith weaved beautiful stories out of galis, kuchas, bazaars, monuments and graveyards. Whether it was his favourite paan wala or the Mughal food, Smith had a story for all writing first for The Statesman and later The Hindu.
As a writer and chronicler, he authored a dozen books, mostly on Delhi, besides a romantic novel, Jasmine Nights & The Taj, a book of ghost stories and two volumes of poetry. He was the recipient of the Canon Holland Prize and the Rotary Award for general knowledge and the journalism award (1997-98) from the Michael Madhusudan Academy, Kolkata. With his vast knowledge in Egyptology, Grecian, Roman and Hindu Mythology, Sufism, qauualis, ghazals, mujras and other quaint pursuits, Smith was a man who brought history alive through his charm of writing. His was a voice of a culture, a raconteur who knew where his heart was and for whom he was writing. Delhi will miss his story-teller. RV Smith was 82.
It seemed the worst was yet to happen. News of the Indian football legend and former captain Chuni Goswami’s demise sent in shudders. The legendry footballer was the most successful Indian football captain. Under his captaincy, India won the gold medal in 1962 Asian Games, finished runners-up in 1964 Asian Cup, and narrowly lost to what was then Burma in Merdeka football six months later.
The iconic sportsperson, who also played first-class cricket for Bengal, was 82 and breathed his last at a hospital here. Goswami played 50 matches for India as a footballer from 1956 to 1964. As a cricketer, he represented Bengal in 46 first-class games between 1962 and 1973. Goswami will be remembered for his dedication and team work.
As I sum up, I am left with the inevitability of life… Amidst this pandemic which has shaken us to the core, will humanity now ‘stop’, ‘breathe’, ‘notice’, ‘reflect’ and ‘respond’ and practice ‘gratitude’ towards ‘self’ and ‘others’?
Irrfan Khan’s words from his film Life of Pi will always keep reminding us to remain positive and let go everything for: “In the end the whole of life becomes an act of letting go. But what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye…”
Can we be a little slow, to be more smooth?
(The author is programme executive at Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, Gandhi Darshan, Rajghat)