Reflections

Manna Dey and his wife,Sulochona The last of the Mohicans has departed. Manna Dey, the only surviving member of the incomparable male quartet of Mukesh, Rafi , Kishore and Manna died last week at Bangalore. We were fortunate that we grew up in an era when these stalwarts were competing to sing better and better songs. Accompanied by the legendary music directors of those days, S D Burman, his son RD, Shankar and Jaikishen, Laxmikant Pyarelal and so many others, the sixties and the seventies seemed to be a golden time when superb compositions and songs poured out in an seemingly never ending stream. Of the four singers mentioned, Manna Dey was perhaps the least flamboyant. He was known for his correct classical background, and had honed his skills while training under his legendary uncle K C Dey, the famous blind singer known by the now politically incorrect name of Kana Kesto. He started his career in the forties and sang with the same superb skill right up to the nineties. He has p...

Continuing the account by Dr Madhumita Sen. The road is crowded with cars, all foreign, mostly European. We see a lot of Volkswagens, BMWs, Audis, Mercedes, Buicks, Toyotas, Hondas, Hyundai’s and others I don’t recognise. I ask Alice if China produces any cars of its own. I learn something very interesting from her reply. While the whole world markets are being flooded by ‘made in China’ goods, the Chinese prefer goods from Europe or the US!!! Petrol is really expensive in China, but you wouldn’t think so looking at the number of cars on the road! Chinese food (tinned or preserved), cosmetics, toys and clothes are also looked down upon (Chinese cosmetics are really bad, says Alice. “We try to save up and buy only French!!!” L’Oreal is her favourite). The journey to the Great Wall takes us an hour, but all through, the roads are wide, clean and with beautiful green verges. As we drive out of Beijing, the scenery changes. We are surrounded by misty hills and the road becomes winding. ...

( Continuing Dr Madhumita Sen's account of a trip to the Middle Kingdom) It is 8pm before we feel strong enough to go out again. We explore around the hotel. Everything is well lighted, the roads are wide, there are really beautifully wide footpaths with maple trees growing in a neat row right through the middle. Right next to the hotel, on one side, is a spa. We find a Tesco supermarket right down the road near the hotel, then a KFC. We are excited to see the bright neon signs claiming “Tesco” and “KFC” in Chinese! Then, a Pizza Hut, with the Chinese lettering made like the pizza hut logo. We take a lot of snaps. Next to the Pizza Hut is an open – air ‘Greek’ style auditorium of sorts, where a karaoke session is going on. Huge crowds! Nice music too, Chinese of course. We watch for a while, then climb the steps to the top of the well like auditorium, to find an open air food court. There is a row of food – stalls, and nice picnic type seating areas with thatched roofing on one...

Madhumita Sen has been a friend of ours for many years now.At present she lives and works in Malacca. She has written a detailed acount of a recent trip to Beijing which I think is very interesting.I requested her to let me reproduce it in my blog. She has graciously agreed. So here it is. You might want to also read my impressions of China here . Beijing Trip 5th to 9th August 2013 We arrive in Beijing early morning on 5.8.2013, 2am. Beijing airport is huge and quite well managed. Much like so many other international airports, we note, blearily. That’s nice though - pictures of the great wall as we clear immigration. Took some snaps immediately! No one there to meet us at arrivals, had to hang around till 2.35, then this young Chinese girl rushes up. It’s Alice, our tour guide. A short, spritely young lady, in shirt and trousers, smilingly anxious face, no make-up, blond bleached hair. She is very pleasant, English is a bit of a struggle, but we get by fine. She leads us ...

Today is the 55th anniversary of one of the most important advances in medical science. It was on this day, in 1958, that Ake Senning, also known as an innovator who devised several operations for congenital heart disease implanted a pacemaker for Arne Larsson. This device was engineered by Rune Elmqvist and Dr Senning was the surgeon. This device failed.... after three hours. A second device was then inserted, this too failed after a couple of days. Larsson finally had 26 different pacemakers inserted at various times and died on December 8,2001 at the ripe old age of 86 from a melanoma of the skin, having outlived both Sennning and Elmqvist. Ake Senning Rune Elmqvist Arne Larsson The device was, however, based on the concepts pioneered by Canadian electrical engineer Dr John A Hops who, at the Banting and Best Institute at Toronto University, experimented with this device . Dr W G Bigelow,who was a pioneer in the field of Hypothermic cardiac surgery, collabor...