Far from the madding crowd at Chattarpur farm in Delhi, actor Tom Alter is busy shooting for “Khamosh Sa Afsana”, a television serial directed by Dilip Sood of “School Days” fame.
He is playing Husain Baba, a bosom pal to a speech and hearing impaired couple, being played by ace actors M.K Raina and Roopa Ganguly. At 65, Tom’s voice is still strong and body lean and sturdy. As if to prove that his core is still strong, he screams out to co-actor Raina, “Kya budhdhon ki tarah laraz rahe ho”, and laughs heartily. The shot is okayed in just one take.
“Aayiye mohtarma”, says the 'angrez', as he is popularly known among his Indian counterparts. He pulls up a chair and adds, “Tashreef rakhiye”. And then treads down the memory lane.
A sports journalist for 15 years, Tom Alter had interviewed Sachin Tendulkar when the latter played in the under 14. He has had all kinds of experiences in the city, from hair-raising to love-bound to those related to theatre, literature and more.
“Living in Mussoori, Delhi for us was like Mount Everest, tough to climb, and Bombay, Calcutta and Madras were like fantasy lands -- unreachable. But we made it to ‘the big bad city' – almost by all means – taxi, bus, car, motorcycle, bicycle and on foot!” recalls the veteran.
‘Big bad city’ because his elders – father and an uncle -- used to boast of coming to Delhi by road in their youth. And so at 15-16, Tom and his friend Paul too decided to take the journey on a bicycle. “They challenged us, 'if you go to Delhi, on a bicycle, and reach there before 24 hours, for every hour less than 24 hours, we will give you three rupees! We took the challenge. It was 1966 and Rs 3 meant today’s Rs.300. And Delhi was 180 miles, not kilometres. We began the journey at 6-30 a.m. and reached Subzi Mandi by 9-30 p.m. in 15 hours -- 9 hours before time.”
Having bagged Rs. 27 each, Tom and his friend had a gala time. “We took our girlfriends along, watched adult movie “Dirty Dozen” at Regal Cinema. Then we had a meal to our heart’s content – mutton biryani and what not. Having consumed Rs. 54 in just one day, we went back in a taxi!”
His parents shifted to Delhi in 1969 and lived here for 11 years, mostly at Rajpur Road and Jungpura Extension.
Earlier, Delhi was a fantasy land where Tom would come to see his favourite sportspersons play. Since Tom and Paul's girlfriends lived in Darya Ganj, the duo would go there often. Relating an incident, Tom said: “My girlfriend used to live in Lane number 6 at Darya Ganj. Ring Road was then newly constructed. I was cycling to meet her at night. From Ring Road, there was a slope at Tis Hazari on which for the first time a divider had been constructed. It was pitch dark and from the slope to Tis Hazari, a taxi was coming at full speed. As the taxi hit me, I was flung in the air, my cycle hit the divider and broke into many parts. The taxi screeched to a halt.”
“Hearing the loud sound, the residents of a nearby slum came running. By then, I had stood up dazed! A fellow from the crowd said, ‘Tumne us angrez ko dekha? Vo to mar gaya hoga?' (You would have seen that Englishman, he would have died). The taxi wala knew it was me. He came running and offered me Rs. 50. I refused to take the money and asked him to give me a lift till Darya Ganj instead .” Tom had escaped with minor sprain and bruises.
Delhi, Tom agrees, has always been unsafe, especially for women. The reason being that be it Boulevard Road on Civil Lines' or Old Delhi's Darya Ganj, vagabonds would always be around at night.
For this Caucasian of American descent, Delhi was a hub to watch his favourite players play. He recalls having seen Gary Sobers, Charles Griffith, Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai, Wes Hall at Oberoi Maiden (near IP College). “At Delhi Gate Stadium, which is now Ambedkar Stadium, the first match I saw was one in which Bishan Singh Bedi played. I have seen Makhan Singh (athlete) running, not Milkha Singh though.”
“I loved hockey too. In 1966, in the Asian Games final in Bangkok, when Balbir Singh launched a goal in double over time, we took out a procession of over 2000 people for five kilometres. When I met Balbir in 1983-84 as a sports journalist, and told him about that moment, he started crying. I still remember Balbir used to play barefoot.”
Tom would often also come from Mussoorie to watch the Durand Cup football matches. “With Paul I once walked 40 miles as we only had Rs. 50 in our pocket. We bathed in a canal and slept under trees on the way. When we were finished with the money, we boarded a train and jumped out of it on seeing a travelling ticket (TT) examiner approach.”
They would also take similar pain to watch tennis legends like Ramanathan Krishnan and Premjit Lall play at Delhi Gymkhana Club.
A Rajesh Khanna fanA die-hard Rajesh Khanna fan, Tom Alter recalled how he came all the way from Mussoorie to catch up with first day first show of his films at Regal Cinema in Connaught Place. “We saw Anand, Dushman and Amar Prem by buying tickets in black for the first day first show,” he laughs.
He minces no words when he says, “it is full of boastful people who boast of their 'connections' at all possible places.”
Yet, he swears, it has treated him very well. “I never came here as a tourist but for work. I performed most of my Urdu plays here. People know me as “Sayeed Alam's (playwright/director) Ghalib here”. Incidentally, Tom has essayed the role of Ghalib and other poets in several plays.
The blue-eyed ‘Sahib’ wants to continue. But his shot is ready. While bidding goodbye, he hints at his love for Delhi by reciting poet Ibrahim Zauq's famous couplet:
“Layi hayat aaye; kaza le chali chale”
(This life brought me here, end will take away...)
