Divakar Sharma

Are you among those who needed a towel when the red light came on for Divakar Sharma on September 1 in Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs? The entire audience did. But the 13-year-old himself was the sole exception, handling the expulsion from the contest with grace. Even without eyesight, he could foresee that “Mera sangeet khatam nahin hua”.

A lifeline has been thrown to him by way of a chance to bounce back as the best among the pick of those eliminated. After the SMS polling over the weekend, Tuesday will show whether it will be the Delhi boy who will re-enter the talent hunt.

But Divakar has already caught the imagination of the nation. Offers are coming to take him to his dream destination Taj Mahal free and to sponsor his eye treatment. His admirers include Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Speaking over phone from Mumbai on the way back from the latter’s residence on Friday evening, the boy spoke about how he sang Dil Hoom Hoom Kare thrice and then Tere Liye from Veer-Zaara to the film-maker who had invited him over. “He said he will call me after three-four years,” said the boy who has “seen” and loved Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas. The list does not include Black, the film about a deaf-mute-blind, which Divakar reminded Bhansali of. The reason is simple: Black did not have songs, Divakar’s window to a film.

Divakar’s father Sunil, a businessman, was more forthcoming about the boy’s rise which has been documented in a half-hour film by Doordarshan. The recipient of Saraswati Samman from the home ministry does not have his talent limited to singing. He is a computer freak. That made him come second in the Pogo Child of the Year contest last year. He is good with GK too, proof of that being his reaching the final of the Bournvita Quiz Confidence Championship a couple of weeks ago in far-away Singapore.

“The last round was based on a special talent which Divakar had chosen as singing. He was given two hours to prepare and sing a Tamil song. He was doing fine but forgot the lyrics on stage.” His father has no regrets about the missed chance, though. “If he had qualified for another round, he would have missed this chance in Mumbai. Kavitaji (Krishnamurthy, one of the Bournvita judges) had told him that God must have planned something special for him.”

The boy who always scores above 95 per cent in school (Delhi Public School, RK Puram) has had to miss classes for the past couple of months. But the principal has been very supportive. “She has asked him to concentrate on the contest,” says Mishra. So it is music first for Divakar, for now.

Sudeshna Banerjee

The Diary

A week’s holiday

The last time there was a poem
The last time there were words
The last you spoke left scars
The last we wrote was of love
(We wrote differently of course)
The last that was heard was silence
Farewells are difficult
The last was a nightmare
a month long
This was a day’s death.

Adwaita Das, JU

Liar

Trust me! I am a liar,
I never used to love thee,
It’s your illusive dreams,
that fabricated what you didn’t see.
I am but a perplexed poet,
engulfed in my maimed past,
I needed a Muse to write,
not a baggage that will ever last.
Hate me, Stab me,
Set those trysts on fire,
I am a fugitive of your love,
Trust me! I am a liar.

Archan Bhattacharya, Don Bosco Park Circus

The Unnameable One

Beyond the slash and burn manner of calculations
Beyond the unsteady exchange of indifferent hands
Beyond the anxious sweat settling unsettled
Enormous planets on the black-blank space of fate
A window wide open reveals a blue vision
That expects the ‘eager’ throw of your blues
You comply.
A thought is an Odysseus
Casting an unsure glance
At the ‘eager’ face of your globetrotting passport.
A thought rides on the wind
Of no purpose, birth or death.
Call it love...
Call it your soul...
Call it poetry...

Subhadeep Paul, M.Phil English, JU

Chit Chat

Changing cityscape

The City of Joy turned 316 on August 24. Concern for Calcutta launched its youth cell on the day with a debate and Powerpoint presentations.

Many of the 14 debators questioned: “How much more will Calcutta expand?” The school students were to speak for or against the motion: “The bubble of Calcutta surging ahead will burst sooner than later” (picture below by Amit Datta).

Those who spoke for the motion brought up various socio-economic problems that are affecting the city — heavy traffic, potholes and growing pollution topped the list of peeves. “We have even come upon an incident where a patient in one of the government hospitals died because her eye was eaten up by ants. This is not what we call development,” said Rishab Surana of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy.

The speakers also pointed out how the jute mills were closing down, adding to unemployment. On the one hand, foreign investors are vying with each other to invest in the IT sector here, on the other, it is at the cost of agricultural land. Result: an over-supply of unskilled labour.

But according to Tania Bhattacharyya of Modern High School, the speakers were digressing. She stressed that before judging whether the bubble will burst or not, we must first determine what is inside the bubble and what outside. Her clarity of thought and speech won her the best speaker award.

But Calcutta is not just about footpath-dwellers, pollution and potholes. That was what the speakers against the motion elaborated on. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, and so is Calcutta,” said Shaila Jalan of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, who later emerged the runner-up. Calcutta now has flyovers, malls and the IT sector. Is there any doubt then that Calcutta is developing, they asked. “The traffic snarls are also pointers to the fact that more Calcuttans can now afford cars,” reasoned Shayak Chakravorty of La Martiniere for Boys.

The five-minute Powerpoint presentations by students from seven city schools were either on “From Netaji to Sourav G” or on “Jhaalmuri to Kosha Mangsho”. Apeejay School was adjudged the best performer, with Modern High School coming in second place. Up next, was a cultural programme in which each group had to express a specific mood and thought about the city. Shri Shikshayatan School topped the contest, followed by St James’ School.

Nabamita Mitra