The colour of secularism

Judging by media shrills, it appears that the intelligentsia of the country expect the Prime Minister to open a separate Ministry of Condolences and Condemnations, and function as the concerned minister. After all, the Dadri incident "has seen the PM maintaining a deafening silence, and he needs to come out with condolences and condemnations, failing which he is communal". That is what the media and these self-professed peddlers of secularism appear to be shouting at the top of his voice.

Yes, the poor man's life in Dadri is just as valuable as any other's, and the perpetrators deserve the highest punishment, no doubt. Yes, any act of violence is utterly condemnable by one and all, most of all, by the common people, who need to realize that however grave a perceived act of impropriety is, no individual can take law in his hands. That is not what a civil society stands for. Violence is NOT the solution for any social problem.

But then, how ridiculous! One cannot expect the PM of the country to make statement on a complete figment of imagination of the media. The unfortunate fact is, there are hundreds of killings across the country every day, and no one wants them to happen, for sure. However, that being the case, are we expecting the PM to spend his 24 hours, making serial condemnations on one incident after the other? Are the lives of the other 100 other victims of such daily incidents any less important? If the PM is expected to make a statement for each and every killing in the country that happens every day?

I would rather let the PM focus on his work of taking the country on the progress path and take into that elite club of developed nations, rather than making empty platitudes like his "eminent" predecessor had done, every time such an unfortunate event had happened then... the country needs action against the perpetrators, not " we will not keep quiet" formal speeches. And, the corrective action starts with the local police and the state government.

While there is no doubt that the Dadri incident is utterly condemnable. Killing of any human, for any reason, is. Make no mistake. But the politicians and media, alike, are basking in the sun of the incident, successfully making it an international issue. Even stranger is the UP govt report on the incident, which does not explicitly mention any beef incident.

By the way, has the media and these so-called intellectuals asked the question of what actions have been taken by the State Government, who has been taken to court and been punished, in the bloody Moradabad communal violence that happened just six months ago in U.P., where many people had lost their lives? Where is the accountability?

In the name of freedom of speech and civil liberty, barring certain pockets, the media has exhibited the most irresponsible behaviour - of showing the country in poor light, by blowing this unfortunate incident beyond proportions, and painting it in communal colour.

The other comic drama being enacted is the serial returning of the Sahitya Academy awards, by some of its recipients, in sympathy with the murdering of one of their fellow recipients, in a completely unrelated incident in Karnataka. Where were these so-called "feeble" writers who have returned their respective awards, when they happily accepted the Sahitya Academy awards, standing in the flood of blood that flowed during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots? Where was their sense of "secularism" then? Or during the 1992 riots? Or during the Mumbai bombings? Shame on these so-called intellectuals, who go head-over-heels to establish their "secular" credentials, by downplaying one section of the society and, in the process, showing India in extremely poor light, to the rest of the world.

I do not know why Modi has to make a statement for incidents like these. Educate me, folks. Did anyone ask why the CM of U.P. did not immediately make any statement, given that law and order is under him? Or the CM of Karnataka, for the matter?

During the same period, a UP police officer has been killed by beef mafia there. Did any of these so called secular media and politicians even bother to report about it, but for Indian Express and a couple of other newspapers?

Did we hear or see the media scream " shame on the nation" for that killing of an honest police officer just days ago, in the same U.P, who only did his job of implementing a law banning cow slaughter, that had been in vogue for over 60 years?

Sad to see such barbaric killings, of the police officer and of the poor man in Dadri, in this 21st century. Sadder to see the so-called intelligentsia of the country getting carried away.

❤D❤

मेरी चाहत

मेरी चाहत

=======
मैं चुप ज़रूर हूँ, पर कुछ कहना चाहता हूँ
देखने में तो ख़ुश ज़रूर हूँ, पर आंसू बहाना चाहता हूँ।

फरिश्ते तो पूछते हैं, जन्नत में भी उदास क्यूँ हो
क्या करूँ , मरके भी फिर से मरना चाहता हूँ ।

मायूसियों की बारात सामने से गुज़र रही है
और खुद को बारातियों में शामिल करना चाहता हूँ।

मेरी मक़बरा को जितना भी फ़ूलों से सजा लें
क्या करूँ , मैं क़ब्र के अन्दर ही रहना चाहता हूँ ।

The deafening silence after Yakub's hanging

Prior to Yakub Memon's hanging by end July 2015, there was a flurry of intellectual self-gratification by political leaders, jurists and activists and the media moghuls alike. Many had petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee urging him to waive off the death sentence of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon. Learned folks like Shashi Tharoor made impassioned speeches, to the galleries' "wah! wah!" accolades, on the bane of hanging, and how mercy should be shown to such "simpletons" who deserved to live on this earth, even if they chose sit right on top of the graves of hundreds that were mercilessly murdered by them in broad daylight.

The shrill calls for showing mercy to these marauders reached a crescendo at the last hour before Yakub's hanging. It felt as if these "activists" were literally clutching the feet of the hangman, begging him to let go of this " innocent man", even as the noose was being tightened. The Secularism Industry, surely, was in business.

It has been two months now. Grass has grown on Yakub's grave. Grass has grown, too, under the feet of these intellectuals. As far as I read and hear, none of these vocal mercy petitioners have approached any of the law-makers to abrogate the "draconian death penalty" provisions under the Indian Penal Code.

I am keen to know if Tharoor even asked to raise this issue on the floor of the parliament, during the 1 1/2 days the Monsoon session functioned for (!). I am keen on knowing which have these activists
have petitioned their respective MP to raise this in parliament. After all, these intellectuals know very well that the only way this law can be repealed, is by making an amendment, by both houses of the Parliament.

I am almost sure that none has raised this bogey thus far(I will be delighted to be proven wrong). None will. Not until the next set of hangings, riding on today's court ruling awarding death penalty to five conspirators in the Mumbai train blasts in 2006 reaches a crescendo in another 5 years perhaps. At that time, they get yet another chance to prove that they are the leaders of the Secularism Industry. At that time, the media gets another business opportunity to up their TRP ratings.

Until then, whisky will continue to flow freely in social gatherings. Until then, the media will have to find other "hot topics" like bashing up sadhus, to keep their TRP ratings. Until then, the terrorists can continue to feast on lamb biryanis in the cosy confines of jails.

heart emoticon D heart emoticon

क्या जाने

ग़म-ए-सीने को दिल तोड़ने वाले क्या जाने
मोहब्बत के रस्मों को ज़मानेवाले क्या जाने।

हमसफ़र का सुकून क्या होता है- यह
अगले ही गली में मोड़ने वाले क्या जाने।

कितनी तकलीफ होती है ताबूत के अंदर
यह उपर से फूल छडाने वाले क्या जाने।

कितनी तन्हाई लगती है समुन्दर के नीचे- यह
साहिल से मोती को मांगने वाले क्या जाने।

❤D❤

Seenae kay gham kO dil thodnEwaalaE kyaa jaanE
mohabbat kii rasmoan kO zamaanewaalae kyaa jaanE
humsafar kaa sukoon kyaa hothaa hai - yeh
aglae hii gali mein modnaewaale kyaa jaanE
kitnii taqleef hothi hai thaabooth ke andhar
yeh oopar sE phool ChaDHAnEwaalaE kyaa jaanE
kitnii tanhaayi lagthi hai samundar ke neeche- yeh
saahil sE moti kO maangnewaalE kyaa jaanE

An Ode' to the Queen of Music

When the music lingered

===================

As you take your seat beneath the arclights,

my heart turns into a sky of a million lights.

That broad vermilion kumkum upon your serene face,

the diamonds that sparkle, the flowers that grace.

Your hair-bun, your ears, your neck aglow,

the silk that falls softly in colours that flow—

Nothing gaudy, nothing loud, yet regal beyond compare,

as though Parvati herself had descended in prayer.

And there you sit, composed, serene and still,

with a presence that seems to command the hall at will.

Those diamond nose-studs catch the gentlest ray,

as though even the light pauses awhile to pay

its obeisance to the woman before us—

before the music, before the first note, before the silence does.

The hall falls silent; the tanpura begins to hum.

And slowly, from somewhere beyond, the first notes come.

The world that I knew begins to fade from view—

There is only your music, and me listening to you.

Your eyes close gently; and begin with an invocation.

And something within me surrenders, without explanation.

I dissolve in your raagam, I lose my coordinates—

And drift into a world where something sacred awaits.

The kirtanas flow, steeped in a bhakti so rare,

And somehow your devotion becomes mine to share.

You do not merely sing what the composer has sung—

You make me feel the prayer before it leaves your tongue.

No flourish, no gesture; no need to display.

You sit almost motionless, and yet carry me away.

Your still frame is an exhibition of equanimity—

Can the Murthis of Goddesses really sing, too?

There is a calm in you, like Ganga at Haridwar,

Majestic in its stillness, yet flowing afar.

From that stillness comes music that moves the soul,

A current of bhakti that makes the broken whole.

Every little noise, every wound, every care

Falls away into silence, and something sacred is there.

Three hours pass as though time itself had ceased.

Then suddenly the music ends- the night descends.

You rise, you leave; the hall slowly empties—

But something of you remains, my soul, to tease.

The Nightingale has flown, but the song lingers on;

The last note has faded, yet the silence still sings.

I walk into the night, but I do not quite return—

With your Bhakti, my heart feels a strange turn.

And long after the lights have dimmed and you are gone,

I remain suspended in the spell you have drawn—

Gasping for sur-ambrosia, deep into the night,

Still lost in the trance of your music and light.

❤D❤

A Tagore encore for Bharati

Subramanya Bharatiyar ( "Bharati") and Rabindranath Tagore ( "Kobiguru") were contemporaries. Both made profound impact on the people of their respective states at that time.

However, over the course of the last 100 years, the popularity of Bharati's poems is increasingly being restricted to the cognoscenti. Whereas, Tagore continues to rule the heart of practically every Bengali, even across the border, in Bangladesh.  This set me thinking about the possible reasons for this dichotomy between two of the greatest poets the 19th/ 20th centuries have seen, in India, and what could possibly be done now, to set the anomaly right.

Before I start, I have a few disclaimers to make.

Firstly, I must profess my limited exposure to the works of both greats. In addition, my lack of adequate knowledge of Bengali language restricts my ability to relish the poetic beauty of Tagore's works, whereas Tamil being my mother-tongue, I am more at ease with Bharati. You may ask how do I then assess Tagore's works, since I do not know the language well enough. My inferences are from two sources: a) discussing this with a few friends of mine, who are into Rabindra Sangeeth. b) My limited knowledge of Sanskrit helps me in deciphering seemingly difficult words rather effortlessly- it is usually the syntax part that I flounder.

Secondly, I am sure that many PhD theses across the country, and possibly even around the world, could have been based on a comparative study between these two giants. I do not have the time or the wherewithal to do an in-depth, factual study of their works. Rather, I am going to base my viewpoints on my observations and my limited knowledge of classical music. And, I am going to restrict this article to their poems only.

And finally, I am not passing any judgement on who is better, between the two. I would be dead wrong if I even attempted it. Both are geniuses in their own way, and have contributed in no small measure to the literary scene of their respective states. Passing any judgmental views will belittle their great contributions.

Let me now get down to my analyses and inferences.

Let me first take up the lyrical aspect of both. I observe that Tagore's works had consciously shelved literary classicism for simpler yet amazingly powerful words used. He actually used a lot of colloquialism in his works. Result: The commoner, even in the villages, is able to understand and appreciate the lyrical beauty of Tagore. In contrast, Bharati's works have largely stuck to the classical form of Tamizh. The usage of sophisticated words is a connoisseur's delight, but it struggles to strike a chord with the largely unsophisticated masses.

Secondly, Tagore was largely a poet and musician, with wide exposure to the world ( he has travelled 32 countries across 5 continents, at a time when aircrafts were either non existent or sparse) during his 80 long years. He dealt with novels, essays, short stories, travelogues, dramas, and thousands of songs. On the other hand, Bharati was a writer, poet, journalist, Indian independence activist and social reformer.  His travels were largely restricted to within the country, in his rather short 40 years of life. Bharati's poems largely focused on nationalism, religion and spirituality, though he had written quite a few poems on more earthly topics like love and romance. I feel that Bharati's poems on romance are more ethereal than Tagore's. So, while poems of both, about the Independence movement, social causes etc. served their purpose during that that period of freedom struggle, Tagore's collection of worldier poems appears to continue to be popular, especially with the support and admiration of the socially less privileged.. At this juncture, though, I need to qualify this statement - this is true strictly for this genre (worldier topics) only. Many of Bharati's other works have laid the foundations of the social changes that we much needed in Tamil Nadu, then and now, and what was what Bharati was known more for- his passion for certain causes like liberation of women, dismantling the caste system etc... at a time when these would have been considered sacrilegious.

Thirdly, on the music quotient, both were Vaageyakarthas ( poets who compose their own music) Bharatiyar set music for some of his own compositions, and even sung them at various conclaves. However the number of such songs set to music by Bharati himself were limited. Tagore, on the contrary, was a prolific musician as well, credited with over 2200 songs of his own. That, in my view, put Tagore in a vantage position. He was able to temper his lucid, simple yet powerful lyrics with equally simple yet captivating music, based largely on Indian Raags, but also influenced by western and other regional music to a significant extent. Tagore the musician was able to pick the most judicious mix of different styles of music, and embellish his prosaic geet, gilting them into the wonderful Rabindra Sangeeth that we now know of. In all this, his focus, however, appears to have simplicity. Simplicity in the way the swarams ( sur) were laid out, with the objective that even the musically ignorant person should be able to hum those songs without too much trying. As an example, the National Anthem Jana Gana was composed by him, and the music too was set by him. If one observes the swarams ( sur), they are very simple, without any meend ( gamakam) , smoothly paced, and yet captivating and inspiring, when recited in conjunction with the lyrics - the hallmark of any worthy National Anthem. The objective clearly was to get each and every citizen sing it ( or murmur it, at the very minimum) with pride and joy. Not surprisingly, the Indian National Anthem is considered to be one of the best in the world. I have been listening to Rabindra Sangeeth for some time now, and I can assure that virtually each and every song of his reflects these innate qualities that make them ubiquitous across Bengal. I am informed that even the humble farmer in the remotest village can rattle off at least a couple of his verses. Such is the popularity of Tagore's poems.

Which takes me to the way Bharatiyar's songs are handled- then and now.

It is well known that though he himself was born in a Brahmin family, Bharati was vociferously against Brahminism. And in those times, the world of music in Tamil Nadu was dominated by the Brahmins, as they would, in practically all other fields. The Brahmin community hated him for his rebellious nature. But paradoxically, it was the brahmin music performers who gave life to Bharati's songs, in their concerts, and help popularize them, until the advent of the cinema. Especially, those hair-raising songs on the freedom struggle had given a new impetus to the movement.

Now, while this gave the much needed platform for his works to be globally visible, it added it's bit of perversions. For one, Classical musicians were, and are, doing a disservice by mispronouncing Tamizh words during concerts.  You can frequently hear " Shen-tamizh" instead of Sentamizh, "Shelva Kalanjiyame" instead of Selva Kalanjiyame, just to cite a couple of examples. This brahminized pronunciation, in my opinion, makes the songs esoteric, and in an environment where anti-brahminism is considered a must to "cleanse" the society, it immediately puts off the non-brahmin listener. Not to mention the vitiation of the meaning of the lyrics itself.

Music was set to carnatic style by Bharatiyar himself, for those limited songs he had composed music for. Not folk style, something that could have helped them reach the masses easily. So, while the songs set to Carnatic music sound great in a Kutcheri (concert), it is not easy for a commoner to handle it with the same finesse of a trained musician. That immediately brings in a degree of unmistakeable alleniation.

With the advent of the powerful cinema medium, one would have thought that the music producers would taken some of the best known contemporary lyrics of Bharati and set them to lucid music. But again, that was not to be. Till this day, most music composers tend to lean to classical music to set his songs to, though greenshoot changes are getting more visible, of late.

So, what could be done to take Bharati to every villager's lips?  The lyrics are classic and classical in nature, so there is not much to do. What can be done, though, is on the musical front. And the initiative, in my view, should come from the Tamil Nadu government.

For starters, the Government music College,  the Iyal, Isai Naadaga Mandram etc should commission a program to "musicalize" a significant portion of his works, if not all. Eminent musicians and music composers from all genres, should be appointed in a task force. Not just carnatic musicians, but people from other areas - movie music directors, folk musicians etc. The mandate should be clear - compose standardized music which is simple, lucid and yet catchy. Music that would capture the essence of those wonderful words. Music that can easily sit on the lips of the commoner.

Then, provide an umbrella  brand name for the output. I would call it Bharathi Paatu. This should be followed by a Shanti Niketan-style conducting of courses specializing in Bharati Music for those interested. Get the music to proliferate, though modern-day media and social media. Teach it in government and private schools.  One can even think of providing Sales Tax benefits to movies that contain at least one Bharati Paatu. After all, there is nothing like catchy filmi music to popularize content of any genre. And why not? If the mere naming of a movie in Tamizh can give it a tax break, why can't Bharathi Paatu?

This is the least, I think, we can to, to pay tributes to the man who shaped Modern Tamizh literature.

Rabindra Sangeeth has ensured that Tagore shall be etched in people's memory forever. It is the duty of the present generation to make sure that Bharati Paatu makes sure that the Mundaasu Kavignan ( the turbaned poet) remains immortal in the minds of the future generations as well.

❤D❤

Stop the burning

This morning, I pulled the curtain of my bedroom
Hoping , as I did, to see the Sun in full bloom
I was aghast - was I in Shanghai or in Singapore?
Talks of clear air in the environ sounded folklore.

Mankind's avarice in Indonesia to expand settlement
Is causing us Singaporeans untold harassment
If the forest indeed is considered mother nature
Isn't the mother being burnt alive, for better stature?

❤D❤