Every shop you see milling crowds ... sad state of
affairs – poor spend whatever they earn here.... the TASMAC shops and sale of ‘quarter’
.... elsewhere the photo of a legend – now looking frail and weak carrying a
bottle of gin and cigarettes is doing rounds.
We have all
seen this story .... a feudal lord's son, falling in love with a poor girl - not able to marry .... ends up spending life
in frustration in the company of liquor.
Heart-broken he dies in front of her house singing as a destitute seated
near a dustbin with a stray dog in company – the song ‘ulage mayam vazhve mayam’
of Ghantasala remains evergreen hit.... the
film ‘Devadas’ – 1953 released in Telegu starring A Nageswarara Rao, made in
Tamil too – based on the Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay's Devdas. Samudrala
Raghavacharya wrote the dialogue and screen adaptation. The film is listed
among CNN-IBN's list of hundred greatest Indian films of all time.
Famous falling
to disgrace due to their addiction is no new news ... still – the following
makes a sad reading... remember this star attracting headlines frequently
...... Paul John Gascoigne – an attacking midfielder, famous for his technique
and later for off-field problems. He began his professional career with local
club Newcastle United in 1985. Three years later he was sold on to Tottenham
Hotspur for a £2 million fee. He won the FA Cup with Spurs in 1991, before he
was sold to Italian club Lazio for £8.5 million the following year. In July
1995, he was transferred to Rangers for £4.3 million, and helped the club to
two league titles and two trophies. He returned to England in a £3.4 million
move to Middlesbrough in March 1998. He made his debut in the Premier League in
the 1998–99 season, having already featured in the 1998 Football League Cup
Final. He switched to Everton in July 2000, and later had spells withBurnley,
Gansu Tianma (China), and Boston United.
A man famous
in the European continent for his flair, he earned 57 England caps. He was part of the England squad that reached
fourth place in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and was famously reduced to tears
after receiving a yellow card in the semi-final with West Germany, which meant
he would be suspended for the final itself had England won the game.
It is very
grim to read that Paul Gascoigne is in trouble. Addiction is a relapsing
illness - families of addicts become wearily familiar with the pattern: a
period of abstinence raises the hopes – perhaps with a commitment to treatment,
firm promises of change and agonised apologies for past betrayals; but it's
only a matter of time before those hopes are dashed again, when the sufferer
has a "slip", and crashes off the wagon yet again. Most English press
has carried out news and photos of Gascoigne in emergency detox after latest
hospital drama.
The legend
referred to in first para as looking frail and weak carrying a bottle of gin
and cigarettes in the town centre of Bournemouth is none other that Paul
Gascoigne who recently had been kept in hospital for emergency detox to help him recover from his
latest alcoholic breakdown. Reports state that the former footballer was
hospitalised after he collapsed outside his home in Sandbanks, Dorset,
clutching a bottle of gin. Friends of Gascoigne have said he is desperate for
another stint of rehab, but following a string of failed business deals has no
cash to check himself in. The Sunday Mirror reports Gascoigne had been left depressed
after he was rebuffed by several television channels he had approached in hopes
of working as a World Cup pundit. He was also said to be upset at not being
offered the chance to appear on any reality TV programmes.
As could happen to any addict, misery is heaping on – as reports
further suggest that he could be homeless in just 10 days after being told he
must quit his £3million rented penthouse apartment. A man who was probably the
idol of many youths – is in a wretched condition due to alcoholic breakdown. In the most shocking chapter yet of his long
and often very public battle with alcoholism, onlookers had dialled 999 after
finding him slumped tearfully against a wall with his head in his hands – and that
should be a lesson for many.
With regards –
S. Sampathkumar 26th
Aug 2014.
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