Play it again, Joe

He's proof that age need not rob you of your deepest passions. A professional musician for the past 84 years, Mumbai-based centenarian Joe Menezes still offers music lessons.

Born in Goa on 4 October 1909, Jose Matias Francisco Menezes - Joe, to friends - greets visitors with a firm handshake. Not surprising for a man who started using the walking stick only after his 100th birthday two months ago. "I give credit to my bicycle that I rode daily all over Delhi and Mumbai," says Menezes. Though cycling helped him stay physically fit, much of his emotional well-being can be attributed to his passion for music. A professional musician, Menezes still offers piano lessons at his house in Bandra, Mumbai.

Menezes's lifelong affair with music started when he was studying at Island School in Malar, Goa, where a Catholic missionary first noticed his sharp ear for deciphering musical sounds. Menezes learnt to play the violin at school, apart from the basics of reading and writing music. At 16, he received an offer to join a musical troupe that played in cinema halls in Malaysia and set sail on a 10-day voyage to Kuala Lumpur, from where he later travelled to Malacca and Seramban in the next five years. "While the movie was going on, our group of five violinists would sit below the screen and play the background music," he recalls.

In 1931, he returned to Goa. Just days after coming back, he received an offer to play violin and saxophone at Bristol Hotel, run by a Goan, in Kanpur. "In those days, musicians needed to have expertise in more than one musical instrument to make a decent living," says Menezes. "I used to play the violin during the lunch session and saxophone at dinner." As British orchestra groups hired musicians on a contractual basis, his job profile kept changing every few months. From Kanpur, he travelled to Indore, Peshawar and Nainital on various musical assignments. "The British changed places according to the seasons," he remembers. "During the summer, they lived at hill stations and in winter they shifted to the plains." Unlike a lot of people, Menezes's memories of pre-Independence years are not tinged with pain. "Those days were tough but I was not involved in the freedom struggle," he says with candour. "Life during the British Raj was better. At least we did not have corruption and terrorism the way we do now."

During one of his visits to Goa, while playing the harmonium in the local church choir, he met a young lady, Retinha. The two fell in love. As Menezes lived in Peshawar, Retinha travelled alone from Goa to Peshawar in 1941 where the two got married without the support of their families. Their son Albert was born a year later and daughter Sophia, in 1948.

Just before World War II, the family moved to Delhi where Menezes got a job as a music teacher at St. Columba's High School, a stint that was anything but easy. "The boys were rowdy and the principal had offered me a year to train them to form an orchestra," he reminisces. "That's when I decided I would never teach boys again in the future if I had a choice." Today he gives piano lessons to three students - all girls.

Disobedient students apart, Menezes recalls the breathless pace of his initial years in Delhi. "I used to go to the school at 6 am, then play at a restaurant during the lunch session, go over to my students' houses to give music lessons and then go back again to the restaurant to play at dinner." His hectic schedule hardly left him with time to think, let alone rest. "I had no weekly holidays and commuted all over Delhi on my bicycle." Life switched to a more sedate pace when he got a job at the government-run Ashoka Hotel in Delhi where he worked for 10 years. It was the most secure job he had ever known. He even received accommodation at the staff quarters at Diplomatic Enclave in the Teen Murti neighbourhood - where then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru lived and Mahatma Gandhi often visited.

In 1968, Menezes decided to move to Mumbai. "My wife was keen to settle in North India but the climate didn't suit me," he says. The couple bought a house in Bandra. A few days after moving into the city, he got an offer to play music for films. Menezes joined the Cine Musicians Association and worked with music composers such as Shankar Jaikishan, Laxmikant Pyarelal and R D Burman. On the side, he also gave private tuitions in violin and piano.

He continued to play music for films till he turned 90, by when the hassles of commuting and the changing norms of the music industry began to get to him. "In my heyday, a large orchestra of 80-100 musicians was quite the rage," says Menezes. "Eighty per cent of the musicians, though, were dummies who only pretended to play the instrument. After the recording session, musicians used to unwind with a drink, but I was always too busy to hang around." He is glad he remained a teetotaller and feels his disciplined lifestyle has been an important contributor to his good health.

After retiring, he decided to offer tuitions at home rather than going to his students' houses. Though, over the years, he had mastered the harmonium, piano, saxophone and clarinet - all on his own - he gave up playing wind instruments a decade ago on the insistence of his family who felt he was too old to exert himself. "It was with a heavy heart that I gave away my prized saxophone and two violins to music enthusiasts." Today, he can still play the violin flawlessly, but the fingers that once played Mozart don't comply so easily now. "My fingers and shoulders hurt a little now," he remarks. After giving up his violin, Menezes focused on the piano.

Though he is adjusting to the aches and pains of life, adapting to the changes around him is not always easy. "Now there is noise and traffic everywhere and I rarely move out as there is hardly any space to walk," he says with a touch of resignation. He spends his day playing music; meeting friends; going for a walk; reading; watching TV and teaching music. "Though it feels wonderful to spread the joy of music, I don't encourage my students to pursue a career in music because the profession is riddled with a lot of uncertainty and you don't earn much."

His beloved wife passed away 10 years ago but his life is still filled with the laughter and conversations of four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. His daughter lives nearby, in Khar, while his son, who has a house in Andheri, now lives with Menezes. "I wanted to dedicate my time to him, so I moved over to live with him," says Albert, 67, who enjoys the long conversations they share about the good old days. For Menezes's 100th birthday, Albert and his sister threw a party that was attended by 150 family members from all over the world.

Though Albert keeps him company, Menezes is fully independent. "I don't visit doctors and I don't even remember the last time I had fever," he says. The glaucoma in his eyes is all that bothers him. Both his eyes have been operated upon for cataracts. "I did my second cataract at the age of 95 and the doctor was surprised to see such a good pathology report," he says with justified pride. When asked if he has any dreams left to fulfil, Menezes has one small wish: "All I ask from the Almighty is to give me good health and happiness right till the end."

VOICE of the voiceless

Raju, a porter at the railway station chooses to study after a hard day of work so he heads to the NGO VOICE for his daily dose of education.

VOICE (Voluntary Organisation In Community Enterprise) was started in August 1991 by the husband and wife team Victor and Rajashri Bansiwar who began teaching beggars, porters, rag pickers, vendors and shoe shine boys at railway stations. VOICE started with just 20 children. After 18 years of serving street children, the couple has touched the lives of over 5000 children into becoming educated and independent individuals.

“During my MSW (Masters in Social Work) course, I was posted as a trainee at Matunga at a remand home. During that time, I felt sad to see the dehumanising conditions of the children who were not looked after properly,” says Virctor Bansiwar, founder of VOICE. “By the time we finished our course, our attention got diverted towards children on the railway platforms,” adds Victor. The Bansiwar couple completed their MSW course from Nirmala Niketan College.

“Initially it was very difficult to start the organisation as we neither had the funds nor the resources to do anything. We registered our trust and opened the office in our residence in Andheri,” says Rajashri Bansiwar, founder of VOICE.

The organisation provides not just non-formal education but also encourage children to join the mainstream schools. “Due to unavoidable circumstances, some children could not go to school hence we give them non-formal education at our centres. “We cater to the needs of the Mumbai street child. We do not focus on book learning but on all-round development of the child such as value education, computers, yoga and music. We start with literacy skills and if they become interested, we send them to municipal schools,” says Rajashri. From its inception till 1996, the volunteers and staff of VOICE were teaching at Churchgate, Dadar, Vile Parle, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Goregoan, Borivali, Bhayander and Virar railway stations. “We wanted to teach children at all railway stations but the railway authorities objected to us being there. Everytime they asked us to leave, we would come back only because of the children,” adds Rajashri. Due to the non cooperation of the railway authorities, VOICE could not continue at railway stations. Instead, they taught all the children in their 1BHK home cum office.

After years of struggle, with a grant from Sir Dorab Tata Trust, the Bansiwars obtained a one acre plot at Virar and have constructed a home in August 2006 called Sanjivani for homeless girls who are particularly vulnerable to rape and molestation. The capacity is for about 100 girls. Sanjivani now has 53 children aged between three years to 17 years, seven volunteers and team of teachers who work along with the Bansiwars. “At Sanjivani, in addition to academic education, we teach the girls cooking, tailoring, gardening, yoga, music, computers and so on,” says Rajashri. The couple has now started reaching out to the Adivasi community in and around Virar. Currently, 30 tribal children go to Sanjivani.

VOICE has devised several programmes for the benefit of children. “One important initiative we undertook is Prayas. Under this programme, bank accounts are opened for the children. This inculcates the habit of saving money. The children are expected to save a part of their earnings into their accounts,” says Rajashri. The children have been taught screen printing on gift wrapping paper, cards, letter heads and to make diyas (earthen lamps) which is sold during Diwali. The proceeds of the sale of the gift wrapping papers and diyas go to the children itself who save it in their bank accounts. So far four children have purchased new bicycles with the money they saved while 14-year old Santosh saved Rs. 15,000 over a period of three months.

Other programmes include counselling sessions, debates on social issues and current affairs, educational camps to places like Delhi, Rajasthan and Dharmsala, yoga, singing and playing musical instruments like the tabla, harmonium, guitar and keyboard.

"Development without security is meaningless. Join the Army"

“There may be lots of development, but if there is no security, development is meaningless. Therefore, join the army” is the motto of 60-year old Anuradha Gore.

Fourteen years ago, Captain Vinayak Gore laid down his life fighting insurgents at his post near Kupwara during Operation Rakshak. Since then, his mother Anuradha Gore has drawn up a battle plan of her own.

Since the death of her son, Gore took it upon herself to educate and inspire young children about joining the armed forces. During school vacations, she conducts workshops on all-round development, leadership skills, terrorism and about the armed forces as this is her way to keep Vinayak alive. “Values of bravery have to be inculcated in children at a young age so that they grow up to realise the importance of joining the army,” says Gore. She narrates stories of brave war heroes like Shivaji, Veer Savarkar and Mangal Pandey.

On a regular basis, she also tutors students of class 4th – 6th students of Paranjpe Vidyalaya in self study techniques. She has a team of 12 housewives who help her in this mission.

Gore feels that today children are looking out for more lucrative opportunities, but joining the armed forces does not necessarily mean the person will die. The salaries may be less but benefits are tremendous.

She was a teacher at Parle Tilak High School till 2003 and retired as the principal of R. N. Podar High School in 2007. Her teaching profession helped her deal with the death of her only son. “The principal of Parle Tilak High School sent me a letter stating that there are more than 100 Vinayaks waiting for you in school and there will be many more,” adds Gore.

Gore has written a book titled Vaaras Hovu Abhimanyuche on the lives of 19 slain defence persons. In addition, she serves as a columnist for Marathi newspapers.