Comments
It was an evening to remember. Not just for the Birla family, but for many others who had assembled at the Kala Mandir auditorium for the launch of Life Has No Full Stops , a biography of Mr B. K. Birla and Mrs Sarala Birla. The book, written by Ms Rashme Sehgal, was released by Bollywood veteran Dev Anand.
Memories
The foreword to the book is by superstar Amitabh Bachchan. On this day 69 years ago, Mr B. K. Birla and Sarala got married. Mrs Birla said as she was born in a family of freedom fighters and grew up in a liberal environment she had announced that she would give her consent to marriage only after meeting the prospective groom. Accordingly, the meeting was arranged. Once the consent was given, the engagement was held in November 1941 and solemnised by Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) and Ba (Kasturba), in the presence of C. Rajagopalachari, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jamnalal Bajaj.
“You get in life what you give,” she observed. At 85, Dev Anand was in his usual outfit complete with a cravat. It was indeed painful to see the once dapper hero of films such as Jewel Thief , Hum Dono , Hare Ram Hare Krishna and 100 others being helped to walk. He presented himself with the scarf he was supposed to wrap around Mr Birla's neck. An error? Or the inimitable filmi style?
He narrated how his association with the Birla family started on a New York-bound aircraft many years ago, when he sat next to the legendary G. D. Birla. He had no doubts that soon there would be inquiries for film rights of the present book. A few nuggets of information about the life style of the Birlas were available from Mrs Sehgal. For example, every day for the past 69 years, Mrs Birla has been preparing the first cup of tea for Mr Birla at four in the morning. Also, Mr Birla's music system is full of latest Hindi film songs.
Nearly 20 years ago, this scribe was present at the reception held on the occasion of golden jubilee wedding celebration of Mr B. K. Birla and Mrs Sarala Birla. He still remembers Aditya Vikram Birla, who was present at the gate to receive each and every guest. Alas he is no more. At today's programme, his wife Ms Rajashree Birla, welcomed all. Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla, the grandson, was absent today. He is abroad on an urgent work.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.