Nostalgia

This year has been a not so good year for trading. But it has been a dismal one for anybody who has grown up watching Hindi movies and listening to its songs. One by one we have seen the passing away of legends like Shammi Kapoor, Jagjit Singh, Bhimsen Joshi, Bhupen Hazarika and now the one and only Dev Anand. I am not even counting MF Hussain and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, who were legends in their own right buy not really connected to the Hindi Film industry.

I am surprised at my own reaction to these deaths. I was saddened by each one of them and experienced a sense of loss. I am surprised because these legendary actors were clearly a couple of generations before me. Shammi Kapoor and Dev Anand specially had some of their best work released even before I was born. So why did I look at them as part of my growing up years? Why am I so affected by their death that I have to write about it?

Then the answer came to me. TV, in the late 70s and 80s, showed only old films. Lack of entertainment options meant that these movies were savored. I still remember waiting for the next Sunday film's title to be announced and if it was a good film then waiting for one week to watch the movie on a Sunday evening with a good gathering of neighbors and friends for company. Every community festival, like say the Ganpathi festival meant that movies would be shown in the night with temporary screens set up on the roads. People from the neighborhood would gather on the streets and sit on both sides of the temporary screen to enjoy a hit movie. I still remember watching, Johny Mera Naam, Jewel Thief, Teesri Manzil, Junglee and many other such movies in this kind of community settings.

Films, in those times were not a thing of individual entertainment to be watched in the confines of ones room on a laptop or a TV. It was part of larger process of entertainment through bonding with friends, family and neighbors.  These legendary actors were therefore not actors before my time, but heroes I have grown up watching and admiring for their work and who gave us a reason to mingle with our community. Thus their death saddens me not just for the fact that they were legends but also for the fact that their death reminds me of the passing away of a way of life which nostalgia makes me believe was a much less complicated way of living.

After letting nostalgia take over for some time, I have to revert to the present. I am long from 5015 levels. I will cut my long position (not go short) if Nifty moves below 4975. I will short only below 4938.