YUSUF SAAHAB (DILIP KUMAR) KE LIYE "TUM JEEYO HAZAARON SAAL " GAANE KA KOI MATLAB NAHI HOTA KYUNKI UNHONNE HAZAARON SAAL JEENE KA IRAADA KAR LIYA HAI

Ali Peter John

These videos which I see on my mobile these days send me into another world and a million memories and feelings cross my mind , fill my heart and sometimes disturb my mind .

I have just seen a video of Dilip Kumar's last birthday being celebrated in his bungalow.He is sitting wearing his trademark white trouser and kurta with matching chappals on his feet .He looks tired and very old and what is more disturbing is that he is entirely unaware of what is going on around him . There is a huge birthday cake placed in front of him with something which looks like the crown of an emperor (Shahenshah) next to the cake which seems to have been presented to him by someone called Salim . His still beautiful wife who is seventy nine now, Saira Banu is sitting close to him in a dazzling pink salwar kameez with flowers on it and with a huge red rose in her hair .

She is trying her best to cheer up her "Saahab " who she now addresses as "Jaan". She tries her very best to make him realised that it is his birthday, but he seems to be lost in his own world which even he doesn't know of . There are a few young men who are singing,"Happy birthday to you, Saahab, baar baar din ye aaye , tum jiyo hazaaron saal ". Saira tries to join in the singing and looks at her "Saahab"to get some reaction from him , but he is still lost and looks at nothing , and no body and no where . It is supposed to be a very happy occasion and a grand celebration of the 98th birthday of the "Shahenshah", but there is an over powering sadness about the whole scene......

I have seen some of the most joyful celebrations of the Shahenshah's birthday .I have seen him in his elements during most of his birthdays and making his guests feel honoured and very special on his birthday.I have seen stars like Pran and Dharmendra and writer Salim Khan leading the celebrations in the morning which went on all day and lasted well past midnight.I have seen kings , sheikhs and one-time nawabs and powerful politician , businessmen and even leading smugglers walk into 34-Pali Hill to wish the Shahenshah on his birthday .I have seen Saira's , mother Naseem Banu supervising the kitchen on the Shahenshah's birthday.I have seen bouquets, flowers and expensive gifts from all over the country and even from different parts of the world pour in on his birthday.I have seen the Shahenshah's birthday being celebrated by schools, colleges, institution and cultural organisations celebrating the Shahenshahs birthday.....

And look at what time and age have done to a Shahenshah who is greater than any Shahenshah anywhere in the world !

I hear those young men singing"tum jiyo hazaron saal "again and feel like slapping them , correcting them and telling them Yusuf Sahab (Dilip Kumar) ke liye "tum jeeyo hazaaron saal " gaane ka koi matlab nahi hota kyunki unhonne hazaaron saal jeene ka irrada kar liya hai

All those who believe , think or feel that Dilip Kumar can be forgotten or wished away are sadly mistaken. Can't they understand that a Dilip Kumar comes once in a way and then live on and on and on..... And forever ?