It's just a matter of time.....

"Aage bhi jaane na tu
 Peeche bhi jaane na tu
 Jo bhi hai bas yahi pal hai..........."

That haunting melody which was on the top of the charts many years back has still not lost its appeal and is evergreen with a depth in the meaning of its lyrics.

This evening it was the movie, 'Waqt' that was being aired on the Doordarshan national channel. I was planning to hit the sack, after what seemed to be a long day, on taking in the initial part of the 'lost and found' story of the movie that was a smashing hit in the sixties. I know that my parents were fond of the movie to such an extent that they'd seen it more than once - first, by themselves and then, with their friends - and I've heard my dad humming the tune of some of the numbers of the movie, all of which were chart busters of its era, continuing to haunt the sensibilities of the listener even to this day.

Having seen the young family disintegrate under unfortunate circumstances, I'd gone against my earlier resolve and decided to see their reunion, ending up in watching the entire movie. Each frame seemed to push my sleep away and the tiredness was a thing of the past!

Many of the protagonists have long passed into the mist of time like Balraj Sahni, Achala Sachdev, Sunil Dutt, Madan Puri, Raj Kumar etc. And seeing the young Shashi Kapoor against his wheelchair bound image of today, one couldn't help but feel bad about the impermanence of life. Probably, that's the reason as to why Sadhana has not been seen in the public realm for years. She prefers to stay young in our minds and our hearts, perhaps for eternity!


Tailpiece.

"Time erodes gratitude just as it does beauty", so the saying goes.