.The elevation is 14000feet RICH & FAMOUS--CHOSEN ONES
WHO doesn’t want to be rich and famous? And who won’t like to pool all the resources at one’s command to be in the hall of fame? Since all of us cannot make it to that status, do we not seek identification to impress the world about our acquired level of superiority? But destiny is somewhere there, playing its quiet role.
Lady Luck doesn’t smile on everyone. You have to be a “chosen one” to have that divine favour; boon or benediction. Hitting a jackpot, winning a lottery, being the millionth buyer of a car and getting it free, or stumbling on a hidden treasure, are all in the hands of God. Or providence, if you prefer that word.
There may be other parameters to judge one’s being lucky or unlucky. Being fortunate and being successful are two different things. Fortune favours while success succeeds. One may wait for Lady Luck to smile but one has to really be in a hurry and strive to be successful. Skills, of course, do make a difference in shaping one’s destiny. Also if you are possessed with the ability to bend your bones or pull a truck by your eyelashes, it does make a difference.
Epics, sagas, tales, episodes, incidents, instances are mostly made up of stuff that providence provides and protagonists possess. Yet a fair or unfair distribution of what is perceived as booty makes one lucky or otherwise.
Indian films provide enough material on divine allocation of resources. If a starving hero saves the life of a rich man, or still better, his daughter, then he mostly has the best of both worlds. Remember Ifteqar in “Amar Akbar Anthony”, who places his bet on a shoe-shine boy who grows up to become Big-B, saying, “Ye lambee race ka ghora hai (He will go a long way in life).” While in the first case, it is being lucky, and in the second, successful.
There may be many ways to be rich and famous. Some people do name-dropping and proclaim and clamour about their relationship with the already rich and famous. For example, you can always find characters who brag about, saying, “I have direct access to 10 Janpath!” or “Madam recognises me in a crowd!” Those who are not able to make it to Bollywood in any recognisable way can be seen dropping names like “Ramu is dependable!” or “Vidhu is just like a younger brother!”
By way of a reverse argument, if you at least verbally take on the might of a biggie and pose a challenge to his authority, you become one of the debated ones. Heard of that couplet from Zafar Gorakhpuri, “Kitni aasani se mashhoor kiya hai khud ko; Maine apne se bade shakhs ko galee dee!” (How easily have I made myself popular by simply abusing someone really great.)
You can think of various ways to be in the news at least, if not rich enough. Come in the way of a wealthy man’s car but do please avoid Salman Khans. Also if you are able to survive an air-crash, train accident or a boat capsizing, when all about you are gone, you definitely make the stuff when curious journalists could be seen interviewing you, almost gagging your mouth with that instrument which they call an ID, “How are you feeling now?” or “How really do you feel now, when the entire world knows you?” True, some are born great while others strive and gyrate. Sorry, Mr Shakespeare!
WHO doesn’t want to be rich and famous? And who won’t like to pool all the resources at one’s command to be in the hall of fame? Since all of us cannot make it to that status, do we not seek identification to impress the world about our acquired level of superiority? But destiny is somewhere there, playing its quiet role.
Lady Luck doesn’t smile on everyone. You have to be a “chosen one” to have that divine favour; boon or benediction. Hitting a jackpot, winning a lottery, being the millionth buyer of a car and getting it free, or stumbling on a hidden treasure, are all in the hands of God. Or providence, if you prefer that word.
There may be other parameters to judge one’s being lucky or unlucky. Being fortunate and being successful are two different things. Fortune favours while success succeeds. One may wait for Lady Luck to smile but one has to really be in a hurry and strive to be successful. Skills, of course, do make a difference in shaping one’s destiny. Also if you are possessed with the ability to bend your bones or pull a truck by your eyelashes, it does make a difference.
Epics, sagas, tales, episodes, incidents, instances are mostly made up of stuff that providence provides and protagonists possess. Yet a fair or unfair distribution of what is perceived as booty makes one lucky or otherwise.
Indian films provide enough material on divine allocation of resources. If a starving hero saves the life of a rich man, or still better, his daughter, then he mostly has the best of both worlds. Remember Ifteqar in “Amar Akbar Anthony”, who places his bet on a shoe-shine boy who grows up to become Big-B, saying, “Ye lambee race ka ghora hai (He will go a long way in life).” While in the first case, it is being lucky, and in the second, successful.
There may be many ways to be rich and famous. Some people do name-dropping and proclaim and clamour about their relationship with the already rich and famous. For example, you can always find characters who brag about, saying, “I have direct access to 10 Janpath!” or “Madam recognises me in a crowd!” Those who are not able to make it to Bollywood in any recognisable way can be seen dropping names like “Ramu is dependable!” or “Vidhu is just like a younger brother!”
By way of a reverse argument, if you at least verbally take on the might of a biggie and pose a challenge to his authority, you become one of the debated ones. Heard of that couplet from Zafar Gorakhpuri, “Kitni aasani se mashhoor kiya hai khud ko; Maine apne se bade shakhs ko galee dee!” (How easily have I made myself popular by simply abusing someone really great.)
You can think of various ways to be in the news at least, if not rich enough. Come in the way of a wealthy man’s car but do please avoid Salman Khans. Also if you are able to survive an air-crash, train accident or a boat capsizing, when all about you are gone, you definitely make the stuff when curious journalists could be seen interviewing you, almost gagging your mouth with that instrument which they call an ID, “How are you feeling now?” or “How really do you feel now, when the entire world knows you?” True, some are born great while others strive and gyrate. Sorry, Mr Shakespeare!
This article was published in The Tribune dated Sept 28,07
My freind Dr. GS Bajpai wrote back saying it was in Diwar and not Amar Akbar Anthony that the referred dialogue figured. I stand corrected.
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