My friend and Guest Blogger Pradipto Chakraborty takes us down memory lane to Goonj-90......the cultural fest which happened in Ranchi in 1990. We not only enjoyed it to the max but also became Quiz Champs........a very memorable event from our college days.............
Pradipto once again amazes with his excellent recollection of these events................
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Pradipto once again amazes with his excellent recollection of these events................
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SUMMER CLEANING
AND A DISCOVERY
Sometime during March or April every year apartment
dwellers in Delhi indulge themselves in a day long activity that is critical
for their scorching summer existence - I call it the “annual trunk swap”!
Out of the blue, one fine spring morning Delhiites
wake up to realize that they do not need the woolen stuff anymore and the heat jumps
in with such a vengeance that even to look at these makes one sweat. Almost
everyone is caught unprepared – AC’s are not serviced, coolers are not cleaned,
refrigerator bottles are not washed, quilts lie about in the bed and summer
clothes are frustratingly elusive inside packed trunks. The more efficient lot
quickly gets into action and makes the swap latest by April end – woolens
inside, T-Shirts outside. In fact families also utilize this day for general
cleaning of hidden spots in the house.
For working couple like us however, this fateful day
hangs like a sword of Damocles on our heads and features incessantly on our
weekend to dos. We keep postponing this activity till the farthest possible and
in most years the quintessential spring cleaning becomes a summer cleaning.
This year was worse since we had a three year hat-trick of stuffing stuff here
and there without disposing old clothing and rearranging objects we did not
know we possessed. We took the opportunity of a week’s PTO (Personal time off)
to do the inevitable. It was a full day of hard work and we caustically jumped
into hell – right after spending a stupendous week in the colder realms of
Himachal Pradesh. Delhi, by the way is searing around 40 Celsius at this time
and the thought of sweating it out was debilitating.
Anyway,
we got into the job and tried our best to involve the kids as well. What
started out over the philosophical dilemma of “to throw or not to throw” ended
up in the discovery of few objects of tremendous emotional value. There were
old letters, photos, greeting cards, books and souvenirs from our school,
college and University days. But the most prized finding was a worn down deep
gray “Firayalal Stores” polythene bag tucked in one of the trunks that
travelled with me like a soul mate through bachelorhood and the five houses
that we changed during fourteen years of our marriage. Inside the bag were some rusted medals and
this trophy that my friend Azfar would immediately identify – First prize for
Quiz competition in Goonj 1991 organized by Prabhat Khabar, the first English daily
published from Ranchi.
Established in Hindi during the mid-Eighties, Prabhat
Khabar (or PRAKHAR) gave a stiff competition to the then leader ‘Ranchi Express’.
The higher readership of Prakhar was more to do with the novelty of a new
journal than to the quality of news. It still contained news items like “Neighbour assaulted for stealing hen in
Pathalkudua” and similar extremities of mundaneness. In the late Eighties,
they launched the English version and dreamed of competing against with The
Telegraph (which was imported from Calcutta and edited by M. J. Akbar) for
local market share. To create visibility, Prakhar embarked on a blitzkrieg
marketing drive. New media marketing ideas like bill board hoardings, kiosk
selling, pamphlet distribution and social marketing were introduced in Ranchi.
To top it, they announced a Cultural bonanza in 1990 named “Goonj 1990'. It was
a city wide competition among colleges on intellectual activities like
debating, music, dance, quiz and extempore. Ranchi had never seen anything of
this magnitude.
As evident, we represented St. Xavier’s College in the
quiz event and bagged the top spot. That year Swayandip, our champion had moved
to JNU and as far as I remember we replaced our third member with a spitfire
guy called Aditya Nath Jha alias Nacha.
He was one heck of an orator, but not as good at trivia quizzing. Nevertheless,
we won. What happened in the competition has been completely erased out from my
memory, but I clearly remember the awards function.
The awards ceremony was held in the auditorium of CCL (Central Coalfields Limited, Ranchi) and it was an unprecedented event for Ranchi standards. The hall
was teeming with boys and girls of city colleges. It was a proud moment for us
to hear our names being announced and to step on the stage to accept the award.
In our earnest excitement of youth, we nearly delivered an acceptance speech
a-la The Grammies, which were first broadcast on Indian television during that
era.
It was also our first evening of head-banging at a live
rock concert. The opening act was by a local Ranchi band called Salem Group.
They had become extremely popular in town with their Chotanagpuri numbers and especially
a song called “Jani Man kar Fashion”. The lyrics go this way:
Janni Mann kar Faission, haye re faission (2)
Aggay Nikal Jaat Aye
Mardan ke gore talle,
Bhuiya Khisak Jaat Aye (2)
Roughly
translated, it meant that the women are turning into fashionistas, leaving menfolk
far behind. This is causing the world below the men’s’ feet vanish.
The composition was excellent and had interludes of death
metal chords. It’s sad that the group disintegrated quickly due to lack of
acceptance for Chotanagpuri rock!
The signature
act of the evening soiree however, was by an iconic band from Calcutta called
“Shiva and Friends”. They are in fact one of the earliest indigenous hard rock
/ metal ensemble from our country and were contemporaries to the legendary Rock
Machine of Mumbai (later known as Indus Creed). The front man on lead guitar was
a genius called Amyt Datta. His guitar work was sublime and what struck me was
his stage presence. Unlike typical rock junkies, Amyt came on stage wearing a
spotless while full sleeved shirt (buttoned up) and did not believe in any kind
of histrionics. His guitar did the talking and the gig blew our mind. They
belted out excellent covers of anthems like “Another Brick in the Wall” and
“Smoke on the Water”. I was initiated to rock a couple of years back through
another set of friends, who incidentally were Azfar’s school mates - Ronik Gupta,
Sumit (SuSu) Khanna and Amitabh Shee and to recognize the lyrics and sing along
with Shiva and Friends was an unforgettable experience. We screamed ourselves hoarse
for the 2 hours of their performance. I vividly remember Danish, our most
“un-rockly” friend looking ridiculously funny shaking his head back and forth
attempting to match the beats like a thorough-bred rock fanatic. The next time
Danish went to a rock show with me, he …. Believe it or not ….slept !!
That was Parikrama, 2004.
The usual close of life in Ranchi used to be seven in
those days, but that evening I reached back home well past ten. As you would
expect, my parents excused my late coming - thanks to the trophy in question!
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From Azfar
Goonj-90 was a cultural bonanza for the youth of Ranchi. We really enjoyed it and by becoming the 'Quiz Champs'.....added to our 'intellectual reputation' !!
Also, my sister Saba and my cousin sisters Moni and Nasheed Bajia participated in Antakshri and won a prize too. (I think they came first)
Another cousin sister of mine Shaky Bajia and her friends (Shraddha Didi, Shukla Didi, Boju Bhaiya, Montu Bhaiya etc etc) were part of the organizers and my cousin brother Tabish Bhaiya was also very active.
So they may also have their own recollections.
Hence, As a family we have very fond memories of Goonj-90.
** If memory serves me right the Prize Distribution Function took place in CCL (Central Coalfields Limited) Hall (not Guru Nanak School Hall)
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