by Hemacharya
April 25, 2006
When I was standing tall at the Emirates English Speaking School, Dubai, this Friday talking about my best friend Mick Max and his being critically ill and hospitalization, very few among the audience were aware that from within my heart I was praying for the peaceful departure of a friend from this mortal world.
And the second moment I was asking myself whether it was right time on my part to enact his drama ‘Lekh Molyar Lekhuch’ in the presence of a huge audience. As I spoke I could see tears dripping down from many eyes of those who knew him personally. And there were quite many in the audience who knew and revered him.
At the same time, I was also quite convinced that if I were to approach him and request to allow me to stage his last drama while he was preparing for his final departure, he would tell me- “Baba, Don’t worry about me, please go ahead, the show must go on”.
I knew his conscious pretty well due to my association with him for over 26 years. Although he excelled in all forms of art and culture, his passion was particularly towards theatre and music.
He was the unprecedented compere who filled glamour and colour into ‘Wilfi Nites’, he brought tears into the eyes of his audience in such a beautiful role he played as a lover of a blind girl in a konkani film, ‘Mog Ani Maipas’. He coined some beautiful numbers within his musical CD’s called ‘Best of Mick Max’ He ushered in a breeze of modernization and innovation into a number of konkani plays that he wrote including the one which we staged as part of ‘Daiji Anniversary’ in Dubai recently. He touched upon varied subjects, most of which hovered around the social causes like corruption, nepotism, capitalism, unemployment, political vandalism, and so on and so forth.
We both entered into the Kannada journalistic field around the same time during the late 70’s, He became the sub editor of ‘Navabharata’ the then daily newspaper of repute and I represented ‘Praja Prabhutva’ a weekly published from Bangalore. We were contemporaries working in opposition camps, but we remained as best friends. Both the newspapers are now extinct, but we developed an instinct relationship.
He was active in Christian Youth Movement and I was a prodigal son, planning my moves in a Hindu predominant society. Although I always revered his abilities in coaxing the celebrities into giving him the best interviews, I also envied or grudged his trespasses as he was hijacking my chances from below my nose. I remember such an awful incident.
We had a very few or no celebrities descending into the land called South Kanara. To reverse this trend, Kishore Kumar, the great singer came and camped in Mangalore en route to Madras for a song recording. He was one of the most moody artistes who never easily obliged a journalist for a photo session or an interview. I spent my entire three days requesting his secretary to let me have an interview with this great celebrity and on the fourth day when I reached the hotel where Kishore Da was put up I was shocked to be told that already a journalist called ‘Hema’ has left with a lively interview. I was stunned, humiliated and deprived of a chance of a lifetime.
Kishore Kumar was in such a horrible mood; he came charging towards me when I requested him for a second interview.
That was Mick Max. He could reach any level to get the things done.
We spent the best of our 15 years in Oman translating many a literary ambitions into action. The first ten years although physically I was 1200 km’s away from him the proximity between us was very high, and constant. We used to converse for hours on telephone discussing the dismal state of Konkani language and its people. He had great respect and apathy towards Konkani writers and their unfortunate state of living.
Eventually when I shifted my base to Muscat he was the first one to be very elated. His instant comment was: “Thank God now on I can take back seat as far as drama direction is concerned.” He went around recommending my name in social forums, associations, whenever some kind of a role for a director, a drama judge, a compere or a performer came up. During the staging of one of his best drama, “Agustin Kaim Asaa’ he literally forced me into assisting him in direction, so that everything go well, as per his meticulous plans.
When I left Oman he was not too happy either. The pain of separation was lit large on his face and I could recognize the signs of his illness developing within. Very soon he bid adieu to the Gulf and returned to the land, which he loved foremost. And I can still remember the lyrics he used to chant – “Hanv Etango Ghati devon, moja mogacha gaavaak paavonk, tujyaa dolyaamtli dukaam raavonk, haanv etam davon davon” the exact words Wilfi Rebimbus wrote for the konkani movie, “Mog Ani Maipas’ in which Mick Max played a significant role.
I have lost a best friend so also many of his well-wishers, have. He was such a brilliant songwriter, compere, playwright, journalist, comedian and what not. But our loss is not above the one experienced by his wife, Joyce, and his two children, Janet and Kiran.
All said and done, we have a greater role now to play in enacting the legacy of Mick Max, not by misusing and abusing his creative writings but by supporting, by promoting, by cultivating his ideals and ideas, which are in the form of cassettes, CD’s, Books, Dramas, and unpublished manuscripts. We ought to form a foundation in his name so that his family redeems the fruit of his efforts.
The words of sympathy are not enough to fill the vacuum and to reimburse the loss for a grieving family. Those who value the ideals Mick Max stood for may contact me, or www.daijiworld.com to see and find out what we can do best to preserve the love and respect this great Konkanni luminary propagated during his small yet remarkable visit to this planet called ‘The Earth’
The life is uncertain, but the death is certain for every living human being, Om Namah Shivaya.
Hemacharya can be contacted at: hemacharya2001@yahoo.co.uk