Mumbai Masala: Tunes Beat Traffic

One of the pleasures of driving is that you get to listen to some fine music with super clarity on FM radio. I am addicted to Vividh Bharati channel 108.2. My salute to all those who put together superb programmes based on Hindi film songs. They are well researched and each song comes with a lot of value addition. Recently, I heard a programme on the legendary composer Anil Biswas. It was packed with information about the late composer who continues to entertain us even several years after his demise. Then there was this delightful and freewheeling interview with perhaps the only woman composer, Usha Khanna. She candidly admitted that she did not know much about classical music and that tunes came to her mind intuitively. Though she never made it to the top rung, she did compose some real nuggets. Rafi sahab’s ‘Tu is tarah mere zindagi mein shamil hai..., Yesudas Madhuban Khushboo deta hai ...and Dil ke tukde...’ come to the mind immediately. Thanks to Yunus Khan and team for helping me forget the potholes, lane cutting, horn blowing and other problems you encounter while driving.

Numbers Know Sehaan

While most students see Math as the most boring subject, Breach Candy resident Sehaan Shah, 11, has been bagging a series of achievements at the international math olympiads. A class-6 student, Sehaan, won gold medals at the Thailand International Math Olympiad (TIMO) in February, as well as the Turkish International Math Olympiad (TIMO) and the International Antalya Math Olympiad (IAMO) in April. Recently, Sehaan qualified for the final round of the Hong Kong International Math Olympiad (HKIMO) scheduled for August. His father, Aman Shah, an advertising professional, said that Sehaan has been solving math problems since he was three years old. When in Class 4, he was able to solve Class 12 problems involving calculus and derivatives. “Countries like Azerbaijan, Vietnam and Russia have special schools that train children for such olympiads. Unfortunately, we do not have any such facility in India; therefore, Sehaan learnt everything on his own,” he said.

Glory Gone Grounded

The recent tragedy in Ahmedabad has tarnished the image of Air India like nothing else. When the Tatas purchased the airline from the government, everyone took it for granted that they would restore it to its former glory. Instead, the airline became notorious for flight delays, pathetic loos, torn seats, unpalatable food, et al. For media persons, it’s exasperating trying to get in touch with the airline’s corporate communication department. WhatsApp messages routinely get ignored. During the recent crisis, at least the media persons hoped that the corp communication department would rise to the occasion. No such luck. N Chandrashekar, the Tata boss, who made a brave effort at damage control, would do well to professionalise the airline’s corp comm department. Incidentally, many other large companies have opaque corp communication departments staffed with highly-paid staff.

Tailpiece

My friend Kumar pointed out that during Op Sindoor, every second guy on social media became a defence expert, and now, after the Ahmedabad crash, we have aviation specialists by the hundreds!

(Compiled by S Balakrishnan)

Published on: Monday, June 16, 2025, 11:22 AM IST